FIM Supersport World Championship Assen, Netherlands April 28, 2013 Race Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Sam LOWES, UK (Yamaha YZF-R6), 21 laps, 34:51.011 2. Kenan SOFUOGLU, Turkey (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -0.026 second 3. Fabien FORET, France (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -7.228 seconds 4. Michael VD MARK, Nethrlands (Honda CBR600RR), -18.927 5. Florian MARINO, France (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -19.004 6. Roberto ROLFO, Italy (MV Agusta F3 675), -19.179 7. Jack KENNEDY, Ireland (Honda CBR600RR), -19.774 8. Kev COGHLAN, UK (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -22.501 9. Andrea ANTONELLI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -28.453 10. Lorenzo ZANETTI, Italy (Honda CBR600RR), -29.027 11. Christian IDDON, UK (MV Agusta F3), -29.420 12. Vladimir LEONOV, Russia (Yamaha YZF-R6), -34.503 13. Massimo ROCCOLI, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R6), -35.421 14. Riccardo RUSSO, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -35.486 15. Vladimir IVANOV, Russia (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -37.003 16. Gabor TALMACSI, Hungary (Honda CBR600RR), -38.469 17. Raffaele DE ROSA, Italy (Honda CBR600RR), -39.298 18. Mathew SCHOLTZ, South Africa (Suzuki GSX-R600), -40.136 19. Alex SCHACHT, Denmark (Honda CBR600RR), -64.922 20. Kevin VAN LEUVEN, Netherlands (Yamaha YZF-R6), -65.093 21. Nacho CALERO PEREZ, Spain (Honda CBR600RR), -65.506 22. David LINORTNER, Austria (Honda CBR600RR), -75.537 23. Mitchell CARR, Australia (Triumph Daytona 675R), -94.972 24. Dino LOMBARDI, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R6), -1 lap 25. Yves POLZER, Austria (Honda CBR600RR), -1 lap 26. Roberto TAMBURINI, Italy (Suzuki GSX-R600), -2 laps 27. Luca SCASSA, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), -6 laps, DNF 28. Matt DAVIES, Australia (Honda CBR600RR), -11 laps, DNF 29. Alex BALDOLINI, Italy (Honda CBR600RR), -13 laps, DNF 30. Balazs NEMETH, Hungary (Honda CBR600RR), -13 laps, DNF 31. Sheridan MORAIS, South Africa (Honda CBR600RR), DNS 32. Luca MARCONI, Italy (Honda CBR600RR), DNS World Championship Point Standings (after 3 of 14 races): 1. Foret, 54 points 2. VD Mark, 49 3. TIE, Lowes/Sofuoglu, 45 5. Antonelli, 29 6. Scassa, 28 7. TIE, Zanetti/Kennedy, 24 9. Rolfo, 17 10. Roccoli, 14 More, from a press release issued by PTR Honda: PTR HONDA came away from the third round of the World Supersport Championship at Assen in Holland with no points after its most experienced riders failed to start the race due to injuries sustained in crashes yesterday. Front-runner Sheridan Morais could not start due to a shoulder injury sustained in a crash caused by a cold tyre. Luca Marconi crashed late in yesterday’s qualifying and ruled himself out of racing after struggling with his vision in morning warm up. That left the three rookies in the team: Nacho Calero, David Linortner and Matt Davies, with a lot of expectation on their shoulders. After crashing yesterday and only just getting a qualifying lap, Davies then jump started the race and then retired as his learning curve continues. Calero, who consistently was one of the fastest down the straight on his PTR Honda, finished 21st. Linortner had climbed as high as 19th at one point but ended 22nd as his lap times at the end of the race tailed off. Both riders are showing progression every race. The next round of the World Supersport Championship is at Monza in Italy on May 12th, where PTR is expecting Morais and Marconi to return stronger than before and more determined than ever to score their best ever results. Simon Buckmaster, PTR Honda Team Manager: “It has been a very tough weekend with the obvious disappointment of Sheridan not being able to start due to injuries from practice. “Nacho continues to learn in the very tough arena of the WSS Championship. For David and Matt with limited track time due to their crashes, it was always going to be difficult. David with his first finish of the year will surely move forward from this point. “Obviously we are not used to being in this position but we are a strong team, have every faith in our riders and we will move back to where we should be at Monza.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Kawasaki Podium Places For Sofuoglu And Foret WSS, Assen, Netherlands, 28 April 2013 Kawasaki Mahi Racing Team India riders Kenan Sofuoglu and Fabien Foret were once more in the leading mix, with Kenan second and Fabien third at the Assen round. Fabien extended his championship lead. After it looked like a three rider fight to the finish Sofuoglu and eventual race winner Sam Lowes ended up together on the approach to the final corners, with Lowes making a move that left Kenan just behind and only 0.026 seconds from his second race win of the year. This was Kenan’s second podium finish in three rounds and puts him on equal points with officially third placed rider Lowes. Fabien had to give best today to the leading duo but his fast pace when it counted kept him on the podium in third and an impressive championship leader after three rounds. He raced with WSS rookie Jack Kennedy for a time but eased away at the race mid-point to a comfortable third, over ten seconds ahead of the fourth place rider. He leads by an extended five points now from Michael van Der Mark. Luca Scassa (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) fell while in fifth place in the race but his temporary team-mate Florian Marino took over his spot and finished fifth, in only his second ride for his team. Kevin Coghlan (Kawasaki DMC-Lorenzini Team) was eighth in an eventually lonely race. Andrea Antonelli (Goeleven Kawasaki) pushed on to ninth. Vladimir Ivanov (Kawasaki DMC-Lorenzini Team) scored the last point on offer with 15th place in the Assen race rankings. Kenan Sofuoglu: “I think the championship will be a fight between the three riders we have seen on the podium here today. I had a hard fight right to the last lap and I expected to win it. Today Sam was better than me, and this I have to accept sometimes. Always I try to win but sometimes it is not possible. Also racing is about the package and I think we did not get the very best set-up possible on the bike because we lost one day to the rain on Friday. I have two podiums so far and equal third position so it is not so bad.” Fabien Foret: “I had a good race with Kenan and Sam but they were a little bit faster than me. Also it took too much time to get to the speed of the race pace so I had to push hard and then I paid for it a little at the end. But it is another podium finish and I am grateful to the team because they tried their best this weekend and for sure we will try to take an even better result next time.” More, from a press release issued by Pata Honda Supersport Team: Release Date: Sunday 28 April 2013 Van der Mark salvages fourth at home Pata Honda’s Dutch rider Michael van der Mark delivered another impressive ride in this afternoon’s third-round World Supersport race in his home race at Assen in the Netherlands. The 20-year-old flyer endured set-up issues in preparing for today’s 20-lap race at the historic 4.542km Assen circuit and was able to qualify no higher than 11th. A poor opening lap dropped van der Mark down to 14th in the early stages but he fought back through the pack to take fourth and retain second place overall in the series. His Pata Honda team-mate, Lorenzo Zanetti, got a good start to the race from his starting position on the fifth row of the grid and was running as high as seventh before slipping back to finish in 10th place. Michael van der Mark – 4th It was a difficult race because although the start was not too bad I got a few problems at the first corner and in the first few laps I lost too much time. I made some mistakes and had some difficulties with the bike. But after five or six laps I found a way to ride the bike and I kept pushing but there were a lot of guys in front of me by then. I had to overtake them all and the bike was really fast so this made it a little bit more easy. I had some problems with some other riders but when I found my rhythm I was faster than the others and I tried to pass them. I think fourth was the best we could do, even though the team worked really hard all weekend. In the race we didn’t really have the set-up that we wanted but we can be happy with this result. We wanted top five and we got it, but we had to come from a long way back! Lorenzo Zanetti – 10th I had a good start and finished the first lap in seventh place, which was not so bad from 14th on the grid. For the first 10 or 11 laps, when the tyre was new, everything was OK and I had a good rhythm. But when the tyre started to go down, I had the same problems as at Aragon – the chassis lost a little bit of balance and it becomes difficult to stop the bike. I lost a few place after this and finished in 10th which is not bad because top ten is OK. But I want better results than this, also for the team. We have a two-day test this week so we will try to find a setting for Monza, which is my home race. I like the track there and for sure I will try to have a good race there. Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator After the disappointing set-up problems we had on Friday and Saturday we managed to make some good results. Lorenzo got a really, really good start and was up near the front before the tyres started to wear and he dropped back. We have to figure some things out for him when we test here in a few days. With Michael the start was the opposite and he got a bit locked up and lost some places. As the race progressed he caught more and more riders and brought it home in fourth. After the qualifying problems and his resulting grid position, that felt a bit like a podium so we’re quite happy. There’s work to do though, so this upcoming test is important.