Rolling The Dutch Dice
T
he weather for the first two
days of racing at Assen for
round three was not just un-
Assen-like, it was astoundingly
good for this early in April any-
where in northern Europe.
Scandinavia starts quite soon
if you keep driving northeast
of Assen, but it was more like
a cool springtime Misano race,
or even a winter Jerez test vibe,
right from Thursday to Saturday.
Remember, a WorldSBK race
here was postponed due to
snow semi-recently (2019).
Maybe it was the unseason
-
ably fine weather? Or maybe
it is just because one-time
WorldSSP Champion and nearly
Moto2 Champion Sam Lowes
(Elf Marc VDS Racing Team
Ducati) is getting a true hang of
this WorldSBK lark? Whatever it
was, Lowes took an impressive
Superpole win anyway, the first
of his career.
His opening race at Assen
was also one in which he ended
up in the gravel, but it was by no
means his fault on this occasion.
The first race proved to be as
much of a benefit for Nicolo Bule
-
ga (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) as
many had feared, with even front-
row qualifier Toprak Razgatlioglu
(ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK
Team) being demoted to the
second row for riding slowly on
the racing line in Superpole.
For a rider who won three
races at Portimão recently, the
first race at Assen for Razgatlio
-
glu was so tough he never even
got on the podium.
Conversely, for a rider like
Bulega, who was so close to
Razgatlioglu on three occasions
in Portugal, his own race-one
dominance of Assen was shock
-
ing but not surprising.
Second in the opener was the
surprise package of Andrea Lo
-
catelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha)—
his second podium of the year.
WIND
IN THE
P62
Andrea Locatelli
made the most of
a bad situation for
Ducati by taking a
career-first WorldSBK
win in race two.
