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Bautista's Perfect In Assen WorldSBK A lvaro Bautista and his Aruba.it Ducati official crew have been stopping everybody else from tak- ing so much as one solitary race win in the 2019 FIM WorldSBK Championship. In all, he's won all 11 races so far. And that's 11 in a row since he joined his new paddock. He latest success came at the As- sen round, April 13-14. Bautista started the Assen weekend down the order relative to his recent all-conquering prowess, but he had been trying to make his package faster. It only went slower, so when he went back to his base settings he ended up winning both races on Sunday. Another old GP haunt of his, like every other track so far, but not on a superbike. The short sprint race got canned on Sunday morning, because they had to call a halt on Saturday because of foul weather, including snow. Some said 'go!' after it had cleared up a bit, but most said that trying to race in track temperatures in the 30s, and in the wet, was asking for the kind of trouble that racing tries to avoid in the 21st century. In any case, no racing on Satur- day, so two full-distance, full-point races took place on Sunday instead. Just the like old times, said many. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) was hoping to get one on Bau- tista at Assen, as Rea has won mil- lions of races at Assen before. Rea qualified eighth and was one of many who got caught out by a red flag in Superpole, while Bautista was in a slightly luckier position. Rea's hopes seemed dashed. In cold track tem- peratures, Bautista led every lap of race one, from, of all people, BMW Motorrad's Markus Reiterberger, who had been third in the Superpole red-flag weirdness. The tall German was to drop back out of contention, as his rear tire choice started to go off, but he was a serious sixth, ahead of many a bigger name. Rea would be sec- ond—again. Third in race one came the local hero of the big class, Michael van der Mark (Yamaha). He had to come good at the end of race one but had not enough tire left for Rea as the laps clicked up to 21 and out. Alex Lowes, who has had some- thing of the upper hand up to now, was not on his best form in Assen, but his disappointment in two fourths show how well he has been running behind the great red leader and the perennial runner-up in green. In race two, however, there was a real surprise, hidden behind another masterful Bautista win. The early laps were a battle for the Spanish rider, as he was second behind Rea. The four-times champion had made his way into the lead from eighth place at amazing pace, lead- ing from lap one to lap six. But Bautista would motor away eventually, to win number 11. He was the winner by 4.688 sec- onds, on a track surface that was 64°F, which was so much warmer than the opener. And a high race pace from VDM on Rea saw him eventually second. Rea had a go back again at VDM, so close he left a nice tire mark right on the outside of the Yamaha rider's thigh, but it was all good sport for both, and nobody got upset. Bautista even broke the lap record in race two, with a 1:34.564. Again in race two, Lowes was fourth, but this time his old mentor and longtime friend Leon Haslam (KRT) was not his closest company. Front-tire woes saw Haslam fifth then eighth. IN THE WIND P34 Alvaro Bautista is getting pretty greedy in WorldSBK this year—his win count is up to 11.