2010 Hannspree World SuperBike Championship Round 4, Assen, Holland 25th April Race Report
DOUBLE DELIGHT FOR JOHNATHAN REA AT TEN KATE HONDA'S HOME ROUND
The Duttch TT circuit Assen played host to the fourth round of the Hannspree Superbike World Championship where a massive crowd of 78,000 was entertained to some of the closest racing in years as Johnathan Rea rewarded the local team Ten Kate Honda with wins in both races. For the first time in world superbike history the rostrum was dominated by an all British contingent in both races as former double world champion James Toseland would take to the podium twice in one day by finishing second and third with the other podium places going to Aprilia Alitalia's Leon Camier who took third in race one with Alstare Suzuki's Leon Haslam taking the runner-up spot in race two.
Race one. Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider Johnathan Rea who started from pole won a first nail biting race as he was pushed all the way to the chequred flag by former double world superbike champion James Toseland who was finally starting to gel with the Sterilgarda Yamaha machine with Aprilia Alitalia's Leon Camier in third making it a all British podium sweep. Althea Ducati's Carlos Checa overcame from a slow start to take a strong fourth with BMW Motorrad's Troy Corser who led for most of the race took fifth ahead of the Aprilia Alitalia of Max Biaggi in sixth. Privateer PATA B&G Racing Ducati's Jakub Smrz who had been one of the fastest riders all weekend was seventh as the battle for eighth finally went to Althea Ducati's Shane Byrne who was pushed all the way by fellow brit Sterilgarda Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow with Ducati Xerox rider Nori Haga in tenth.
Race two. The last time the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team took a double was back in 2008 where then rider Carlos Checa triumphed at Brands Hatch in the U.K. But in the second race today Johnathan Rea rode a near perfect race to take victory by nearly two seconds over Alstare Suzuki's Leon Haslam who made up from his poor eleventh place finish in race one, while Sterilgarda Yamaha's James Toseland would make it an all British podium in third. Apriliia Alitalia's Max Biaggi performed better this time out by taking a strong fourth, BMW Motorrad rider Troy Corser in fifth with the Althea Ducati of Carlos Checa just holding off PATA B&G Racing Ducati's Jakub Smrz for sixth. Checa's team-mate Shane Byrne finished went on to finish eighth with Rea's team-mate Max Neurkirchner finally breaking his run of bad luck season after overcoming two broken legs last year while BMW Motorrad's Ruben Xaus took tenth.
SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP.
Parkalgar Honda rider Eugene Laverty took his second consectutive win at Assen ahead of Motorcard.com Kawasaki's Joan Lascorz with pole man Hannspree Ten Kate Honda's Kenan Sofuoglu in third. British riders ParkinGO Triumph Racing's Chaz Davies rode to a solid fourth with Gino Rea taking seventh for the Czech Moto Honda team.
