Remy’s podium charge, quotes from Aussies at every level plus superconcession and fuel limit changes
It was truly a four-dimensional universe of complexity at Assen. As well as changeable weather, sometimes it felt like a special tech version of snakes and ladders was being played, and all at 300km/h. More weekends like this will produce something of a classic season, especially so because after Phillip Island’s opening weekend it had looked like a Ducati Cup.
The highlight for Aussie fans was Remy Gardner’s third in the Race Two as Yamaha’s Andrea Locatelli and Yamaha won a very unexpected victory.
Gardner’s podium, his first since this same venue last year and only the second of his career, came after some vital pre-race set-up changes. Suddenly Yamaha’s latest disaster of an early season was overcome.
“I think persistence is key and I think that showed today because we are back on the podium,” Gardner said.
The weekend started with one-time WorldSSP champion and nearly Moto2 champion Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team Ducati) taking an impressive Superpole win, the first of his career.
The first race proved to be as much of a Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) benefit as many had feared, with even front row qualifier Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) – demoted to the second row for riding slowly on the racing line in Superpole – unable to get free early enough to try to chase him.
Second was the surprise package of Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha), who took his own second podium of the year, at a track he really likes, but not one which many thought he had a chance at given all the fast Ducatis that were kicking about.
There have been so many technical rule interventions, new balancing regulations and the gain and loss of Superconcessions already this year that the landscape has been changing almost race to race. But in the opening race at least, tyre performance told all.
Hence Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team Ducati) had some serious front tyre issues even as he passed Razgatlioglu for the final podium spot.
Razgatlioglu had two real tyre issues. Three, if you count the fact that he had to run the hard SC2 front when most others could go one softer in their tyre choices. His front grip went and then, after the halfway point of the 21-lap opener, his rear tyre too.
Race Two would, amazingly, be even worse. After all the summertime sun of Thursday, Friday and all day Saturday, rain coated the track early on Sunday, and then a stiff breeze was evident even after the track dried out and the sun made another popular appearance.
The wet Superpole Race was an opportunity for Razgatlioglu to make a push for a win, and with fuel flow and slick tyres out of the 10-lap equation, he took a convincing victory that was made all the arithmetically better for BMW’s title hopes when Bulega’s bike sputtered and then stopped.
Sam Lowes, robbed in Race One by Bautista’s fall, richly deserved a first WorldSBK podium in the Superpole race for his big-name Marc VDS team – and his often beleaguered self.
Alvaro Bautista got on the podium too, in third place.
Race Two, held in the full dry, will be remembered for many things. All completely off the expected script.
First, the rapidly advancing Bulega broke down again, in the lead, in a similar power-sapping fashion to his Superpole Race no-score.
Razgatlioglu swapped to a different rear tyre and it was to blister a little on the right-hand side. His general lack of front or rear tyre grip saw him go from a podium contender to fourth – then be caught by a flock of riders and finish a seemingly impossible eighth.
Back over in the red corner, Bulega was almost speechless after the race, in his brief but brave press conference. Ducati were completely open-mouthed after two consecutive bike fails for their championship leader.
Bautista was finally second in the second long race.
Just to put the tinfoil hat on all things unforseen, the deep Saturday race woes of the bimota by Kawasaki racing Team duo, Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes, turned into a fifth and a sixth respectively in Race Two. These were their best finishes of the year on the new KB998 Rimini bike.
The next round is at Cremona, Italy, on 2-4 May.
RIDER STANDINGS AFTER 3 OF 12 ROUNDS
1 Bulega 136
2 Razgatlioglu 115
3 Locatelli 107
4 Bautista 86
5 Petrucci 81
World SSP – MV has its day!
Pole position for Can Oncu (Yamaha bLU cRU Evan Bros Racing) threatened to be translated into another front-running ride, but in a 12-lap opening race (after a big crash and restart shortened it from its planned 18 laps), he would finish third. He was reeled in and passed by winner Bo Bendsneyder (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and second placed Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha).
Another win for MV seemed likely in Race Two but, as it transpired, it was to be a Yamaha-to-Yamaha scrap, with another one of ‘those’ Assen moments into the final chicane.
Motorcycle racing history is laden with ‘GT’ Chicane dramas, and this time around it was the inside pass from Oncu on Manzi that saw Manzi run wide, well onto the track limits paint, yet still cross the line first. But he almost immediately dropped one position under the unbending rules of last lap track limits infringements.
So, Can finally won his race after all, Stefano was second and Bendsneyder ended up third, over three seconds down. Tom Booth-Amos (PTR Triumph Factory Racing) fell and restarted to finish 15th, scoring one point. In the championship we have a Yamaha leader in Manzi, with 125 points, Bendsneyder is second on 111, Booth-Amos 84 and OncU fourth with 77. Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Ducati) is in fifth place overall, making four different bikes in the top five places. That’s fans’ fare!
RIDER STANDINGS AFTER 3 OF 12 ROUNDS
1 Manzi 125
2 Bendsneyder 111
3 Booth-Amos 84
4 Oncu 77
5 Masia 52
WorldWCR – Slugfest starts the women’s series
the opening round saw plenty of close racing with Maria Herrera (Klint Forward Racing Team) given the Race One win, having started from pole, but only after Beatriz Neila (Ampito Crescent Yamaha) had strayed onto the track limits paint with an over-ambitious pass into the final corners.
To the surprise of no-one, Sara Sanchez (Terra & Vita GRT Yamaha WorldWCR Team) was also a podium finisher.
Race Two had the repeating top three finishers, but only after a strong fight between four riders. Neila got her much-desired first win in this class by just 0.173 seconds from Herrera. Sanchez placed third again and was only 0.423 seconds from the win. Neila and Herrera share 45 points, with Sanchez on 32.
Tayla Relph (Full Throttle Racing) was running toward the sharp end all weekend after qualifying sixth. Seventh and sixth-placed finishes leaves her fifth overall with five rounds to run.
Kiwi Avalon Lewis (Carl Cox Motorsports), competing in this series for the first time, qualified fourth and translated that into a fourth and a DNF to sit ninth overall. The next round is at Cremona.
WorldSSP300 – Freight trains on fire
More spectacular action from the WorldSSP300 class, in its final season. Pole man Julio Garcia (Prodina Kawasaki) was third in Race One, with local hero Jeffrey Buis (Freudenberg KTM-PALIGO Racing) winning. Humberto Maier (Yamaha AD78 FIMLA by MS Racing) was second, putting three different bikes inside the top three places. In Race Two, Buis won by the narrowest margin ever, 0.001 seconds, from David Salvador (Team ProDina XCI Kawasaki). Daniel Mogeda (Pons Motorsport Italika Racing Kawasaki) was the final podium finisher. Buis now has a vast tally of 16 race wins in WorldSSP300. In the points, he now leads Garcia 75 to 61.
THE AUSSIES
Remy Gardner
Remy (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) clearly likes Assen. He qualified eighth, then took eighth place in Superpole Race, seventh in a wet Race Two and a sensational third in the final long race. He said, “The podium was a combination. A good start, starting position. I managed to save my Superpole Race in the wet. I rode my absolute balls off. I was riding round sideways everywhere; thought I was doing flat track. We also made some setting changes after Saturday for the front and that really paid off in Race Two.”
Jason O’Halloran
Jason, standing in for the injured Jonathan Rea once again, was 22nd in Superpole and 16th in Race One. In the Superpole Race he finished 15th and he was 21st in Race Two. “I lost front grip from quite early in the first race and was struggling to turn the bike a bit. Another weekend done; I enjoyed Assen and really enjoyed my time with Pata Maxus Yamaha. Now I move on to Le Mans next weekend and my ‘day job’ with YART in the EWC.”
Oliver Bayliss
Oli was an encouraging 12th in Superpole, then a T3 faller in Race One. His bike gave issues in Race Two and he had to stop. He said, “After a good warm-up I expected a good race but after the restart I crashed on the first lap. Difficult day on Sunday and I struggled with the bike overheating in warm-up and then for the race on the first lap it happened again. I rode the bike until it cut out and I unfortunately had to retire.”
Luke Power
Declared fit to ride after missing most of Portimao, Luke was 29th in WorldSSP Superpole, 21st in the 12-lap Race One and 17th in the full second race. He said, “The first race back after injury and not a bad weekend at all. We worked away and in the second race we were just about a second away from the points. That’s really good and it fills me with a bit of confidence.”
Tayla Relph
Sixth in Superpole, Tayla went seventh in Race One and then sixth in Race Two. “Overall this weekend was for sure positive in terms of results but it is also not where we really wanted to be. But to be fifth overall is a really good way to start. It didn’t really click for us this weekend but at least we could show that we were really good at the racing side of things, but it just took me too long to get to a quick lap time all weekend.”
Cameron Swain
Sixteen-year-old Cameron placed 19th in Superpole qualifying. He went on to finish 21st and 23rd in the two races. He said, “I made a fast start in Race One and was able to move up into the chasing group. But from around mid-race, I started to have corner entry problems with the bike. Now I just have to train as hard as I can so that I’m ready for the next round at Most.”
Carter Thompson
Carter was a front-runner all weekend – first in Superpole where he was fourth fastest then he went sixth in each 12-lap race. He said afterwards, “I felt pretty positive all weekend and had a good feeling from the start. I only had to make a few small changes through the weekend. In the races I had good pace but in the last couple of laps, in both races, I was a bit unfortunate because of contacts with other riders.”
Fuel for thought: Updates in force
Rules and more rules are the watchword of modern-day WorldSBK racing. This year, so far the BMW official team lost its Superconcession chassis and is having to use the standard new 2025 homologation chassis, much to the team’s annoyance.
Yamaha has gone the other way recently, with a softer Superconcession chassis for the R1 (it were only allowed it because of its relatively poor recent results), which came in for the Portimao round onwards.
Both of these tech interventions seem to have had an effect, Toprak saying his bike is not turning as well as the previous one (despite three Portimao race wins) while Locatelli is letting the results do the talking with Portimao and Assen podiums and that amazing race win at Assen.
This year, with the rev limits now removed from the WorldSBK class and the instigation of fuel flow meters to measure how much each manufacturer’s machines are using over a set amount of time, the first check-point for this new balance rule system came just after Portimao. The two best performing manufacturers, BMW and Ducati, each received one of three possible reductions in time for Assen. They now are limited to using 0.5kg/hr less fuel at any stage of the races than the other manufacturers.
Toprak and BMW say it definitely had an effect at very high speeds, while Bulega said it made the engine response feel ‘a bit dirty’ in some instances now the fuel map has had to be changed. So there has been at least some effect.
Even Locatelli said that the BMW was not so fast in a straight line as it was before, although he said it was only a feeling, as he is a Yamaha rider, of course.
The games – more and more tech games to keep everybody on the same level – have now begun again, as we enter a new and more sophisticated era of balancing control that is no longer a theory, but an introduced reality.
