Bautista Dominates at Assen

The Bautista-Ducati combination keeps becoming deadlier, their latest conquest being Assen

- Joshua Varghese

T CIRCUIT ASSEN HAD dried sufficiently for the qualifying session, making it amenable to slick tyres. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) took pole position towards the end of the session, demoting Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) to second place and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) to third. However, Bautista had to serve a three-place grid penalty for riding slowly on the racing line during qualifying. He had to serve it in race one and that promoted Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) to third place.

The penalty, however, did not appear to deter Bautista's pace because he placed himself among the top three as soon as the 21-lap race got under way. Lowes was able to challenge him for a short while, but Bautista responded swiftly and placed himself firmly among the top three before the end of the lap.