SBK ASSEN REVIEW BULLETIN Chris Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) drove the strong British contingent in the Assen crowd wild after taking his first career victory in SBK. Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) may have crashed in the first race at Assen but after an assured display of riding to win in race two, he left with an increased championship advantage, with three rounds still to run. His main championship rivals had virtual disasters in the wet first, and largely dry second, races but despite only finishing with a tenth and ninth place James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) regained overall second in the title hunt. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) and Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) both fell in both races and scored no points. In the championship battle, Bayliss now leads Toseland by 100 points, 332 to 232, with Haga third on an unchanged 230. A fuel and oil spill in the wet morning warm-up led to some delays in the race schedule, but the 22-lap Superbike races themselves went ahead as planned and on time. RACE ONE An astonishing 22-lap contest gave Chris Walker his first ever World Superbike race win, as the Nottinghamshire rider overcame the atrocious weather and slippery track to go from dead last (and on the gravel at the first corner on lap one) to victor in front of a drenched Assen crowd. It was Kawasaki’s first race win in SBK since a double success for Hitoyasu Izutsu, at Sugo in 2000. Walker’s last podium finish was in 2005, third at Valencia. In second place came Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia), with Michel Fabrizio taking his Honda DFX Treme Honda to third, after moving forward confidently from a 14th place start. RACE TWO In the second race, on a dry track with damp patches around, Bayliss took another of his assured race wins, after an early fight with eventual fourth place rider, Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra). He was almost ten seconds ahead of second place rider Pitt, who now sits fourth overall, on 197 points after two runner-up rides. In a strong day for PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse rider Fonsi Nieto, a fourth in race one was followed up but his first career SBK podium of third in race two. RACE ONE OFFERS BONUS TO PRIVATE RIDERS With so many riders falling in the opening race, including potential podium rider Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Berik Ducati) the privateer machines of Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France Ipone) and Max Neukirchner (Alstare Engineering Suzuki) ran out fifth and sixth, with the factory Ducati of Lorenzo Lanzi the top twin cylinder rider on show, seventh. He was followed by the private machine of Roberto Rolfo (Ducati SC Caracchi) and also Karl Muggeridge, who was in a podium scoring place before running off track in race one and then losing traction to finish 13th in race two. There were only 15 finishers in race one, but Steve Martin (Petronas FP-1) obtained the first of two points scoring results, with 12th in the wet opener, 11th in the dry second race. WORLD SUPERSPORT Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda) rode the race of his life in wet conditions in a two-part aggregate Supersport race to secure the race win from new clear championship leader, Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany). After 21-laps of high-risk racing, another new star was born, Kai Borre Andersen (Hoegee Suzuki), who gave his team its first podium in WSS, finishing third, ahead of Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda). Local rider Arie Vos (J&E Sport Ten Kate Racing Honda) went fifth, with the Hoegee Suzuki team having a successful day, as Barry Veneman scored sixth. In the championship chase itself, Curtain has 151 points, Charpentier 144 and Broc Parkes 119. Parkes, running to a clear early lead in the wet track conditions of race one, fell heavily, and has suffered what initial test have concluded to be three broken ribs, a possibly fractured shoulder and a punctured lung. After his Assen race win, Kenan Sofuoglu now sits fifth overall, only two points behind Robbin Harms (Stiggy Motorsports Hondfedea). SUPERSTOCK 1000 FIM CUP In a closely contested Superstock race Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia) took his second race win of the year, in a delayed 13-lap race at the new-look Assen. Battling with Aussie Brendan Roberts (HP Racing), he passed on the final lap and Roberts ran off track at the final chicane in his attempt to get back into the lead. He finished second, with class leader Alessandro Polita (Celani team Suzuki) third. Polita now has a lead of 22 points from Ayrton Badovini, with Luca Scassa (EVR Corse Ormeni Racing) third, after finishing fifth at Assen. The tenth round of the championships is scheduled for 8-10 September, at EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Germany. More, from a press release issued by Hardinge – Ice Valley Motorsport Team: TUNSTALL DENIED POINTS AT ASSEN BY JUST 6/10TH OF A SECOND Tom Tunstall came within 6/10ths of a second of securing championship points in the two-part rain hit ninth round of the World Supersport Championship at Assen in the Netherlands. Riding the Hardinge – Ice Valley Motorsport Honda CBR600RR, Tom was in fine form and scythed his way through the world-class field from his starting position of 30th to finally end the race in 16th place. In qualifying, Tom and the team firstly had to adapt themselves to the new circuit layout after recent track revisions completely altered the flowing nature of the Dutch circuit. Tom had no problem learning the track, but on day one struggled with set up of the Hardinge – Ice Valley Motorsport Honda CBR600RR and finished 34th. In final qualifying the team were able to improve the set-up and Tom responded by improving his time to move up to 30th place on the grid. Heavy overnight rain continued into race day and the scheduled 22 lap World Supersport race got underway in fully wet conditions, making it a level playing field for Tom to show his wet weather abilities. From the opening lap, Tom made his intentions clear and was relishing the tricky conditions as he moved up through the field in his search for championship points. By lap ten, Tom was up into 17th place and on target to move into the top15 when Yamaha rider Stephane Dutrene and Ducati man Luca Nedog suffered a dramatic crash on the back section of the track causing the race to be stopped. With under half race distance complete, the race was restarted over a further 11 laps with aggregate timing from the two heats determining the overall race result. By the time the race was restarted the rain had stopped and the 2.8-mile circuit began to dry, which required the team to work hard to change the set-up of the bike to suit the new conditions. Tom was able to continue his good progress and despite struggling for grip had a tough battle with former World Supersport runner up Katsuaki Fujiwara onboard the factory supported Megabike Honda. Tom dug deep and was able to match the Japanese stars pace and beat him overall, but at the finish hadn’t quite done enough to get into the top 15 and missed out on championship points by just 6/10th of a second. “It was a good weekend in the end, but I’m just disappointed I didn’t get in the points. We had a really tough time in qualifying but in the race I was battling with Fujiwara and beat him over the two heats. The wet conditions threw the whole thing up in the air and I had a good feeling with the bike and track. In the first part of the race when it was fully wet, the bike was working really well and I spent the first ten laps catching and passing people and I felt I was definitely on for a good result.” explained Tom. “We’ve struggled at the last few races so it’s good to be fighting for points this weekend. We’re still working hard with the bike and it’s definitely getting better. To go from 30th on the grid and finish 16th is pleasing but to come that close to getting a point is obviously frustrating. It’s a reasonable result but as a racer you always want more.” he continued. Tom and the Hardinge – Ice Valley Motorsport team won’t have to wait long to have another chance of fighting for a top 15 finish with the tenth round of the World Supersport Championship taking place this weekend at the Lausitz Ring in Germany. Tom has no previous knowledge of the circuit but is determined to continue his good form with the first practice and qualifying session getting underway on Friday 8th September.