Redding ‘confident on the bike’ following Assen race with ‘nice battles’

Scott Redding was back in the battle for victory during Assen WorldSBK race one - the first time since round two at Estoril. 

The Ducati rider led the way in both FP1 and FP3 as his race pace looked particularly strong. So much so, that in the early laps Redding looked to be faster than both Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu. 

But after passing the Yamaha rider for second on lap seven, Redding ‘destroyed the tyre’ (front tyre) while following Rea and was unable to challenge the Kawasaki rider in the end. 

Razgatlioglu was unable to keep the pace of Rea either, as they instead battled for second during the final few laps. Redding eventually held on for P2 and was perhaps helped by a red flag two laps from the end as Razgatlioglu looked increasingly likely to make a move. 

"It was a good race with some nice battles. Nobody really knew who had the pace to do what, but I was surprised we got a gap in the beginning. That was quite good, it was just us three putting in good lap times," said Redding.  

"I had to close the gap in the beginning of the race, and then try to close a little bit again in the middle. 

"I felt really good with the bike. Just halfway through the race, the front tyre was dropping away from me and I was losing corner speed in the right corners which allowed Jonathan [Rea] to break away from me and Toprak [Razgatlioglu]. 

"I got in front, did one fast lap but then I destroyed the tyre so I then had to manage until the end to see if we could stay in second position, which we managed to do. 

"I’d just like to improve that tomorrow. The bike’s been working pretty well here, to be honest. We had a couple of tough rounds where it’s not been working so well. Here, I feel confident on the bike. I feel good. I can manage in the best way."