IN
THE
WIND
P44
HASLAM, GUINTOLI TAKE ASSEN BSB WINS
S
ylvain Guintoli (Suzuki) cele-
brated his first victory of the
season in the MCE Insurance
British Superbike Championship
in a race two thriller at Assen as
Josh Brookes and Leon Haslam
(Kawasaki) returned to the po-
dium ahead of the Brands Hatch
title decider.
Haslam claimed the first vic-
tory in Assen after an epic clash
with Shane Byrne (Ducati) scyth-
ing his way through the order.
On the opening lap James El-
lison (Yamaha) led from Haslam,
Christian Iddon (BMW) and Dan
Linfoot (Honda), but Guintoli was
soon in the mix as he moved into
third at the end of the third lap.
Guintoli hit the lead on the
10th lap as he dove ahead of
Ellison with Haslam and Byrne
in close contention, but the
Yamaha rider wasn't second for
long as he repaid the move to
reclaim the position at the front
of the field.
Byrne had moved up to third
as Guintoli moved back ahead
of Ellison, but Haslam was
determined and he passed into
second before taking the lead
on lap 14.
As Byrne held second, Ellison
went for a last-corner move on
Guintoli to hold onto the final
podium spot with the Bennetts
Suzuki rider relegated to fourth
ahead of Brookes and Ray.
On the opening lap of a thrill-
ing race two, Byrne got out front
ahead of Haslam and Ellison
with Guintoli, Brookes and Iddon
in close contention, but by the
third lap the Bennetts Suzuki
of Guintoli was at the front and
ahead of Haslam.
The race morphed into a
five-rider battle between Guin-
toli, Haslam, Ellison, Byrne and
Brookes and on lap 16 the lead
riders were all side by side as
they entered turn one; Byrne
and Haslam came off worst as
they drifted wide and allowed
Guintoli, Ellison and Brookes to
sneak ahead.
Guintoli then held the advan-
tage—one he would not relin-
quish—but Ellison was under
attack and Haslam made a move
on the penultimate lap to move
second, but Brookes wasn't
done yet. The Anvil Hire TAG Ya-
maha rider waited until the final
lap to make a pass; the Austra-
lian lunging ahead into second
place to maintain second in the
overall standings.
Ellison held off Byrne who
finished fifth for the Be Wiser
Ducati team with Hickman edg-
ing ahead of Dixon to claim sixth
place ahead of Iddon, Linfoot
and Ray. CN
Sylvain Guintoli topped a thrilling
battle in race two at Assen, marking
his first BSB win of the season.
