Jonathan Rea may be returning to Assen as a clear championship leader in 2015, but one of the most special moments of his life came at the Dutch circuit in 2010.

“I was aware that so many guys around me were able to win,” the Northern Irishman recalls. “I wanted to be at the front of the chaos. So if something happened I would hopefully be clean. Leon Camier and Leon Haslam were really strong. It was a race with Haslam that brought be back to the BSB days. In BSB we had so many fights and this race at Assen reminded me a lot of that.

“I had to put everything into the last two laps because the final chicane throws up so many surprises…it really lifted the spirits of everybody.”