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Weather conditions in Assen could be said to be the main protagonist, but Kawasaki Puccetti Racing teammates Kenan Sofuoglu and Randy Krummenacher performed strongly in the eventual six lap wet race to record third and fourth place finishes respectively. Krummenacher, a rookie, still leads the championship coming into Round 5, and is now being hunted down by teammate Sofuoglu, who is second in the points after four rounds.

The wet conditions on Friday practice proved useful in the final six-lap WorldSSP sprint that was declared after heavy rain appeared and the red flag was brought out at around half distance of the original 18 lap race. Krummenacher led proceedings for the first two laps until Sofuoglu went past him, before the Swiss rider ran on at the final chicane and dropped back slightly. On the pace once more but a little too far back to get back into podium contention, Krummenacher crossed the line for a positive fourth place finish, keeping him on top of the championship standings.

“I dropped back and then got pushed straight at the final chicane,” explained Krummenacher. “That’s OK, that’s racing. I was as fast as the front group after that but I could not go any faster than them. Sure, this disturbed me a bit in my race rhythm. It was a very positive day because first of all I improved my set-up a lot in the rain compared to Friday. Also now in the rain I was also at the front, which is very positive for me. I still lead the championship and I only lost three points today. We made a lot of points compared to some others so now I am 30 ahead of third place. That is very good so we have to keep this feeling and go to the next one.”

That next one sees Krummenacher visit the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola for the first time, with the rookie set on getting up to speed with the new track as soon as possible.