Assen World Superbike Race (1) Results: Bautista in a class of his own

Alvaro Bautista has won his sixth race from seven in 2023 after another stunning performance in Race 1 of the Assen World Superbike round. 

After claiming pole position by the narrowest margins, Bautista instead started Race 1 from fourth after being penalised with a three-place grid penalty due to slow-riding in Superpole.

• Assen World Superbike Superpole Results: Bautista gets the better of Rea 
• Assen World Superbike FP3 Results: Gardner fastest in the wet from Bautista

Undeterred, Bautista gained one of those positions back heading into turn one as he got through on the outside of Alex Lowes.

However, the Kawasaki rider, who had been the quickest rider in sector four through free practice, responded. Lowes went down the inside of Bautista but compromised his run out of the final chicane which allowed Bautista to slipstream his way back past heading into turn one. 

Off the pace set by Bautista and Rea all weekend, Toprak Razgatlioglu came alive in the opening laps as he began to pressure the race leader.  

As Rea appeared to be slowest of the leading trio, the same was happening to teammate Lowes who fell away from the lead group and was instead pressured by Scott Redding, Andrea Locatelli and Axel Bassani.

After gaining P8 due to contact between Michael Ruben Rinaldi and his teammate Xavi Vierge, which dropped the latter from said P8 to 13th, Iker Lecuona crashed out. 

At the front, Bautista finally made his way through on Razgatlioglu for P2 as the Yamaha rider’s early charge seemed to fade. 

After lining up a similar move to the one he made on Razgatlioglu at the final chicane, Bautista instead remained in second on lap seven as Rea proved too strong on the brakes. 

As Bautista came even closer to overtaking Rea with 14 laps to go, Lowes lost P4 to Redding after resisting the BMW rider’s charge for several laps. 

Struggling to get the move done into the Geert Timmer chicane, Bautista took the lead away from Rea heading into turn seven with 13 laps to go. 

There were further changes in the battle for fourth as Redding made a mistake at turn one which gifted Bassani the position. 

Unwilling to give up his crown as the King of Assen, Rea remained close to Bautista following the Ducati rider’s overtake, while Razgatlioglu started to drop away. 

Despite trying everything to stay in contention, Rea was beginning to see Bautista pull clear by a tenth each lap.

Like Bautista, Bassani was also inching away from Redding and Locatelli, after the Pata Yamaha rider gained P6 off Lowes with 10 laps to go. 

The elastic band that was yoyoing between four and six tenths between Bautista and Rea, broke with five laps remaining as Bautista got the gap up to 1.4 seconds.

Assen World Superbike records

Most Wins - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team (16)

Lap record - 1’32.934s Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK Team (2022)

2022 race winners

Race 1 - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team

Superpole Race - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team

Race 2 - Alvaro Bautista SPA Aruba.it Ducati 

Michael Ruben Rinaldi's disastrous weekend continued as he slipped down the order in the final few laps as a lack of pace was evident. With Bautista winning, and Bassani in fifth, Rinaldi's performance is one to keep an eye on. 

Assen Schedule

Friday 

Free Practice 1 - 09:30-10:15

Free Practice 2 - 14:00-14:45

Saturday 

Free Practice 3 - 08:00-08:30

Superpole - 10:10-10:25

Race 1 - 13:00

Sunday

Warm-up - 08:00-08:15

Superpole Race - 10:00

Race 2 - 13:00