Belgian Luca de Vleeschaumer and Dutch rider Finn de Bruin repeated their performances in KTM RC Cup World Final Race Two Sunday at TT Circuit Assen with 14-year-old wild card rider de Vleeschaumer taking the overall race win and 15-year-old de Bruin taking the victory among World Final riders.
Although the outcome of Race Two was very similar to Race One it was nonetheless exciting as 10 riders contested the lead for most of the duration. One thing that was different, American Ashton Yates used a gearing change to find the straight-line speed he was missing in Race One, and the 17-year-old from Georgia used that speed to lead at several points of Race Two. Yates’ strong run ended prematurely, however, when he lost the front and crashed on lap seven of nine, taking Dutch rider Glenn van Straalen down with him. Yates and van Straalen both walked away from the incident.
De Vleeschaumer and de Bruin made moves going into the chicane that secured their respective victories. American Paasch went into the final chicane seventh and came out third overall and second among the World Finalists. Paasch just edged out countryman Anthony Mazziotto, III by 0.010 second, and Mazzioto beat Jan-Ole Jahnig to the flag by 0.015 second. The top five finishers were covered by just 0.8 second at the line.
During the final battle among the leaders, Joep Overbeeke lost control of his motorcycle in the final chicane and ran into Peetu Paavilainen, causing both riders to crash on the front straightaway. The race was red flagged while the checkered flag was already out, resulting in the riders from 11th place down being scored according to the running order of lap eight.
When the points were combined from both races, double race winner de Bruin was clearly the 2016 KTM RC Cup World Final Champion, Mazziotto was the runner-up and Paasch finished third in points. For their efforts, de Bruin won a brand new KTM RC390 streetbike and a day of coaching from a KTM factory rider, Mazziotto won a season-long loan of a KTM RC390 Cup racebike and a day of coaching from a KTM factory rider, and Paasch won a season-long loan of a KTM RC390 Cup racebike.
KTM RC Cup World Final/MCE British Superbike Championship
TT Circuit Assen, Netherlands
October 2, 2016
Overall Race Two Results (all on KTM RC390s and Metzeler tires):
1. Luca de Vleeschauwer, Belgium, 9 laps, Total Race Time 18:04.277, Best Lap Time 1:59.133*
2. Finn de Bruin, Netherlands, -0.682 second, 1:59.414
3. Brandon Paasch, USA, -0.814, 1:59.136
4. Anthony Mazziotto, USA, -0.824, 1:59.319
5. Jan-Ole Jahnig, Germany, -0.839, 1:59.628
6. Kimi Patova, Finland, -1.349 seconds, 1:59.180
7. Mate Laczko, Hungary, -9.309, 2:00.452
8. Ryan Vos, Netherlands, -9.394, 1:59.777*
9. Randy van Hees, Netherlands, -9.431, 2:00.232
10. Aaron Wright, UK, -9.628, 1:59.873
11. Marco Fetz, Germany, -1 lap, 2:01.127
12. Milan Merckelbagh, Netherlands, -1 lap, 2:01.555
13. Jack Nixon, UK, -1 lap, 2:01.434
14. Jannik Kruse, Germany, -1 lap, 2:02.514
15. Rien den Ouden, Netherlands, -1 lap, 2:01.940*
16. Roy Voermans, Netherlands, -1 lap, 2:02.622*
17. Scott Swann, UK, -1 lap, 2:02.239
18. Jared Schultz, South Africa, -1 lap, 2:02.011
19. Myles Wasley, UK, -1 lap, 2:02.221
20. Nicola Barneba, Italy, -1 lap, 2:02.213
21. Rick Kooistra, Netherlands, -1 lap, 2:02.718*
22. Dianne Geesink, Netherlands, -1 lap, 2:02.625*
23. Alex Dumas, Canada/Mexico, -1 lap, 2:02.400
24. Lorenzo Betton, Italy, -1 lap, 2:02.617
25. Niko Hamalainen, Finland, -1 lap, 2:04.434
26. Florian Chayne, France, -1 lap, 2:05.282
27. Alexis Cardona, Mexico, -1 lap, 2:08.032
28. Tijs Heesakkers, Netherlands, -1 lap, 2:07.391*
29. Joep Overbeeke, Netherlands, -1 lap, DNF, crash, 1:58.951
30. Peetu Paavilainen, Finland, -1 lap, DNF, crash, 1:59.104
31. Ashton Yates, USA, -3 laps, DNF, crash, 1:59.169
32. Glenn van Straalen, Netherlands, -3 laps, DNF, crash, 1:59.356
33. 33. Adolfo Delgado, Mexico, -9 laps, DNF, mechanical, no lap time recorded
34. Taylor Fox-Morton, UK, -9 laps, DNF, mechanical, no lap time recorded
*not a World Final competitor
KTM RC Cup World Final Standings:
1. de Bruin, 50 points
2. Mazziotto, III, 32
3. Paasch, 31
4. Patova, 21
5. Overbeeke, 20
6. Laczko, 18
7. Van Hees, 15
8. Fetz, 14
9. Van Straalen, 13
10. Jahnig, 13
11. Wright, 12
12. Nixon, 10
13. Yates, 9
14. Merckelbagh, 8
15. Swann, 6
16. Kruse, 4
17. Schultz, 3
18. Wasley, 1