Assen: It’s time for the pay back In Assen, from the 20th to 22th of April, the Superbike World Championship will come to the third round, on the amazing and technical Dutch track considered by the insiders as the real “university for the two wheels”. The Effenbert Liberty Racing Team faces this challenge in a very positive mood and well motivated, as all of its riders: Jakub Smrž, Sylvain Guintoli, Maxime Berger e Brett McCormick, loving the TT Circuit’s corners, are determined to do their best, demonstrating their value. For the Czech Team ,the 2011 edition of the Dutch GP has been a race with dark and light shades. After an exciting Superpole, Jakub Smrž, in Race1, in order to avoid Leon Haslam who slided down in front of him, had to go off track. He then had to recover a lot of positions, regained the head of the group, but Jakub’s unlucky race ended with a crash between him and his teammate Guintoli, the dynamics of that accident were reported by the webs of the all world. In fact, fighting for the top positions and in an attempt to overtake Laverty, Smrž lost control of his Ducati at the chicane before the finish line, and just in that moment Sylvain was coming from right behind, and couldn’t do anything to avoid the teammate’s bike. In Race 2 Smrž and Guintoli managed to do a little better and finished, respectively, in 9th and 10th place overall. So if for the two top riders Assen is a land for revenge, for Maxime Berger and Brett McCormick it will be an exciting new opportunity to show how fast they can be. We remember well in Phillip Island how Berger, at his debut in the team, demonstrated great determination and fighting spirit, showing his class and creating positive expectations about Imola, where the French concluded the Race day under those expectations. Brett McCormick’s debut on the Dino and Enzo Ferrari’s circuit was very good. (his was for the first time on the Santerno track, first time in Superbike, first time with the Effenbert Liberty Racing Team). Even though he didn’t take any points, he was able to show an increasing improvement that gives us reasons to hope he will get it right on his second World race, in Assen. We would like to remind and underline how unlucky has been the last race in Imola, for the other two riders: During race 1 the French, considered one of the favorites for the run to victory, started well from second position on the grid, but was forced to retire due to a bad crash, after only a few laps. Luckily, he didn´t report any serious injuries, but he did hit badly the tarmac. He was as at the start in race 2, but all is body was in pains and Sylvain’s bad condition obviously affected his performance. Trying to overtake Laverty for 5th place, he missed the brake in the first chicane before the finish line, losing 11” and the chance to take the podium, and despite having the same race pace as the one of leading group, closed only 11th. Not a good day also for Jakub Smrž, struggling with a disturbing pain at his forearm, finished race 1 in 11th position while, in race 2 , he was 7th. After four races, three Effenbert Liberty Racing riders, are now in the top ten of the overall standings: Jakub Smrž 7th (with 30 points), 9th is Sylvain Guintoli (with 21 points) and Maxime Berger is 10th (with 20 points). Now the attention is all directed to Assen, considering that the 2012 WSBK’s season started, for the Effenbert Liberty Racing Team, with the podium in Phillip Island, we are now expecting that, in this 3rd round, the team will manage to show all its fighting spirit and that will achieve those important results that the riders and the squad deserve to achieve. The Assen circuit is considered “The track”, in the world of the two wheels, specially designed for motorbikes nearly 100 years ago, it has seen a drastic reduction of its length in 2006 when, for safety and modernization reasons, it was shortened and went from over than 7 km. to the current 4,555 meters of length . The Dutch circuit, however, has not lost its charm, many pages of the MotoGp history have been written here, but also, some of the most spectacular and unforgettable moments that made the legend of WSBK, were lived on the Assen’s corners. Like, for example: The duel between Chili and Fogarty, (~http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsxGbV15Q2s) teammates , in 1998, and Falappa’s extraordinary victory in 1992 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ryq2RnY5wo&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLF3F64FA03814C747~) after a fiery duel with Carl Fogarty, these are just some examples of how the Dutch circuit has been able to celebrate the WSBK heroes. Curiosity Before the inauguration of track, the race used to take place on roads that were open to normal traffic and in tribute to this, the Assen World Championship’s round is also called the “Tourist Trophy”, just like the famous road race on the Isle of Man.