Rea's admission that he was
a little too far off his ideal final
chicane entry line maybe helped
block Bautista from a final inside
attack, but there was no denying
that Rea's 16th race win at Assen
was one of his best. Bautista
was just 0.103 seconds behind
and Razgatlioglu, although well-
beaten, was just 1.014 seconds
from Rea.
The planned 10-lap WorldSBK
Superpole race on Sunday be-
came a nine-lap sprint, after the
start was delayed and one lap
was lopped off the total. A tech
issue for a back marker had to
be checked out properly before
the action could start.
Razgatlioglu, Bautista, Lowes
and Rea were the leading four,
until Rea eased past his teammate.
Bautista set a new lap record
of 1:33.620 on lap two to close
in on Razgatlioglu, bringing Rea
with him. First Bautista and then
Rea passed the 2021 champion,
with Rea putting in the decisive
pass on Bautista on the final lap.
His race craft was up to the
job of winning another race, his
100th for Kawasaki.
More drama was happen-
ing in the race steward's office
and Bautista lost second place
because his rear tire kissed the
green paint that marks the track
limits on the final lap. Lowes, al-
ready a non-finisher in race one,
had a technical DNF on Sunday
morning, after looking at a cer-
tain fourth until he slowed. That
position finally went to Locatelli.
In race two, the second full-
distance 21-lapper of the week-
end, the action was hard from
the start.
Kohta Nozane (Yamaha GRT)
crashed out on T1, Garrett Ger-
loff tagged the back of Jona-
than Rea's bike on the first lap,
causing some avoiding action
from several riders. Gerloff had a
tech-induced retirement.
But on lap six the real action
started, as Rea tried to pass
Razgatlioglu into T1. Rea drew
alongside the leader, finally
braked and then a fair bit after
Rea so did Razgatlioglu, who
went for a characteristically big
handful. He ran wide at the apex,
went onto the trackside curb
and attempted to rejoin the track
surface proper.
Rea had gone for the pass be-
cause Razgatlioglu had to slow
down as he went wide, but both
riders found their chosen piece
of asphalt filled with the other
rider on the exit.
They clashed and fell, and the
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 17 APRIL 26, 2022 P35
Rea's weekend ended
in disappointment after
colliding with defending
champ Toprak Razgatlioglu
in race two. Alvaro Bautista
capitalized to take the win.
