for the championship. At the
start, I passed Rinaldi into the
corner, but it was not 'easy,' it
was difficult to stop my own bike
so I cannot understand why Gar-
rett arrived inside me."
The early front runner was
2021 rookie, and 2020 runaway
WorldSSP Champion, Andrea
Locatelli. He led for half the race,
with the battling Ducati riders Rin-
aldi and Redding behind. After
Rea got moving forward Redding
dispatched Rinaldi, who was fad-
ing on his X tire, as Locatelli was
thriving on his.
Eventually Rea caught and
passed Locatelli and would ease
out for his 15th career race win at
Assen. He is now just one short
of 200 podium places in WorldS-
BK, from 319 starts.
Behind, Locatelli was caught
and passed by Redding, who
was once again strong but not
challenging Rea consistently, just
like every other Ducati rider.
Chaz Davies (GO Eleven
Ducati) recovered form and bike
feeling enough to go fourth in
race two.
After two crashes in the first
two Assen races Alvaro Bautista
(HRC Honda) was fifth.
In the current points Rea has
243, Razgatlioglu 206, Redding
162, Lowes 127 and Rinaldi 111.
WorldSSP
Dominique Aegerter won the
first of two WorldSSP races at
Assen. He won race one by an
eventually clear margin from
Steven Odendaal (Bardahl Evan
Bros Yamaha) and the fast-start-
ing but eventually slowing Philipp
Oettl, the top Kawasaki rider,
ending in a determined third
place using an X rear tire.
Behind the podium places a
three-rider fight for fourth place
ended up with Cluzel, Krum-
menacher and Gonzalez closely
packed into the top six slots.
In race two Odendaal was to
fall at turn five and finally remount
to finish 13th, scoring three
points but allowing Aegerter even
more breathing space at the top
of the rankings.
After Oettl had pushed his way
to the lead early on and headed
the Ten Kate rider for the first
few laps, he would drop back as
Aegerter swept on to win his fifth
consecutive race.
Oettl's X rear tire gamble
worked again on Sunday but he
was almost caught by eventual
third-placed rider Randy Krum-
menacher (EAB Yamaha). Luca
Bernardi was penalized for run-
ning Oncu off track on the last
lap, and finished fifth, with Cluzel
promoted to fourth.
In the points Aegerter has 169,
Odendaal has 125 and Oettl has
108.
Gordon Ritchie
IN
THE
WIND
P30
Dominique Aegerter (77)
used beautiful yellow
livery to good effect by
taking two dominant
WorldSSP wins.
