A vociferous Dutch crowd at the TT Circuit Assen on Sunday cheered local rider Michael van der Mark on as he rode to an intelligent third place in WorldSBK  Race 2, keeping his home podium record at 75%.

The Honda rider crashed out of Saturday’s race when well placed for a potential rostrum finish, but he only had to wait 24 hours to step back up onto the podium, having also finished in third place at his home round in Race 1 and Race 2 last year.

The Dutchman commented, “It was difficult. On Friday I crashed twice in the wet and I was proper scared to go out there! The track was dry, I was trying to take the lead and get away, but on the rain tyre it wasn’t possible and didn’t feel safe.

“We had to go to slick tyres, I waited one lap, I went out of pit lane and the bike didn’t work for a couple of laps as the tyres needed to warm up. For me it was an amazing race after the disappointment yesterday. I wanted to win so badly yesterday and today I have taken third place in front of this amazing place and it is like a win.”

After four Rounds van der Mark sits fourth in the standings with 90 points, trying to hunt down Tom Sykes for P4.