Results from free practice one at Assen, round two of the 2022 World Superbike championship.

Alvaro Bautista blasts his way to top spot on day-one of the Assen World Superbike, but it’s Toprak Razgatlioglu who shows the best race pace. 

Eugene Laverty decided not to ride in FP2 following a big highside earlier today which left the Bonovo Action BMW rider with severe swelling to his elbow. 

Eager to reassert himself as the fastest rider around Assen, six-time WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea made a hot start to FP2 by already going quicker than his FP1 time on his third flying lap. 

But FP2 was brought to a sudden stop as Iker Lecuona suffered a big crash in sector three, resulting in a first red flag of the season. 

The impressive Superbike rookie, who finished second in FP1, remained down for some time before eventually being helped back to his feet with medical assistance. Following a five minute delay, free practice two was back underway with Rea leading the field. 

Bautista took no time at all to improve as he went within a tenth of Rea’s low 1m 35s time. That soon became top spot as the championship leader set the first sub 1m 35s lap for this session

Continuing to set a metronomic rhythm, Bautista improved again to extend his lead over Rea. The Kawasaki rider was every bit the match for Bautista through sectors 1-3, but it was sector four where Rea was losing time every lap. 

Not a sector you would expect Rea to lose time as it requires sharp braking into the final chicane, a part of the circuit that has traditionally been his strength. 

After seemingly making a step forward in FP1, the second practice was a disaster for Scott Redding as the BMW rider crashed at turn one.

Razgatlioglu, who was third during the early stages, then replaced Rea in second – +0.274s down on Bautista. However, his next lap around was even better as he closed within a tenth of the Spaniard.

In the middle of a stunning race run, the reigning world champion continued to set times faster than anyone else, while also closing to within +0.013s of Bautista. 

There was great news for Lecuona and Honda as the rookie was cleared to return, which he did with 15 minutes to go. 

Rea regained second place with just over ten minutes to go as he went +0.002s down on Bautista, however, the Ducati rider soon stretched his legs once more. Bautista set a time of 1:34.382s which was nearly four tenths clear of Rea.