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Sunday Guide: Assen

Saturday, 16 April 2016 17:30 GMT

Some stats and facts about Saturday's fastest riders ahead of #DutchWorldSBK Race 2

Tissot-Superpole – Tom Sykes (Race 1: DNF)

Tom Sykes became the first rider in WorldSBK history to claim a fourth pole at the Assen track: he has been the polesitter here four times in the last five years, missing out only in 2014, when he was nevertheless on the front row with the third quickest time.

This was Sykes’ 33rd pole position, now only 10 shy of all-time record holder Troy Corser.

In Race 1, Sykes recorded his first retirement after 26 straight races in the points: now the best active string belongs to Chaz Davies, who has been in the points in the last 23 races.

2nd –Sylvain Guintoli (Race 1: DNF)

Back-to-back front row appearances for Sylvain Guintoli: the last time he managed such a feat was two years ago in Sepang (pole) and Misano (3rd). Guintoli equalled his best qualifying performance here at Assen, scored back in 2014.

In Race 1 Sylvain Guintoli recorded his second retirement at Assen after a crash in Race 1 back in 2011: these are his only two races without points at the Dutch track, out of 13 starts.

3rd – Davide Giugliano (Race 1: DNF)

Davide Giugliano recorded his 23rd front row, reaching Leon Haslam at the 23rd all-time spot.

For the third time in his last three weekends at Assen, Davide wasn’t able to see the chequered flag. He was a finisher in both races here only in his first WorldSBK weekend in the Netherlands, back in 2012, when he recorded his maiden podium in Race 1 (2nd) and was ninth in Race 2.

4th – Jonathan Rea (Race 1: Winner)

The fourth grid spot has become the favourite one for the winners lately, as in Aragon Chaz Davies won both races from fourth and Rea followed up with a win from fourth in Race 1 at Assen. Rea in Race 1 was the only finisher among the top-5 riders on the grid.

With his 33rd win, Rea reached Troy Corser at the fourth all-time spot, now he will need ten more to take third from Noriyuki Haga.

Jonathan became the second rider in history who managed at least 8 wins on a given track, after his compatriot Carl Fogarty, who won here no less than 12 times. Rea has won the last four races run at Assen.

Rea, with a 31 point lead, will be the championship leader for the 32nd straight race after Race 2, matching the second all-time string recorded by Carl Fogarty, started here in Assen in Race 1, 1994 (finished in Phillip Island Race 2, 1995).

5th – Michael van der Mark (Race 1: DNF)

Van der Mark started from the fifth place on the grid, the same as last year, but in Race 1 recorded his second crash in the last three races, after having a 75% podium record over the first two Rounds of the season.

Other notes

  • In Race 1 Nicky Hayden became the 117th rider to claim a WorldSBK podium. His last podium had been in the 2011 MotoGP race held at Jerez: third behind Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa. The U.S. had waited for a WorldSBK podium since the 2009 Algarve/1 Race (Ben Spies, winner). This was the 330th race on the podium for Honda.
  • After Race 1, Great Britain counts 497 podium finishes in WorldSBK history: a podium lockout in Race 2 would give the country its 500th podium finish. Great Britain leads Italy (346) and Australia (329) in this chart.
  • For the 13th time in history, there were 6 different manufacturers in the first 6 places at the end of Race 1. The previous Race with such an occurrence was the second Race at Donington, back in 2012.
  • Chaz Davies recorded his 37th podium finish in Race 1, and now is within reach of Leon Haslam, who occupies the 21st all-time spot. For the third race running Chaz set the fastest race lap, and for the third race running at this track he was second to Jonathan Rea.
  • Leon Camier gave MV Agusta their best ever finish in fourth in Race 1. Leon had waited for a Top 4 result since he finished third in the first 2013 Silverstone Race.
  • Best career race result for Lorenzo Savadori, 6th in Race 1.