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A carbon copy of the morning, with the weather conditioning proceedings at Assen, on day one of this 25th edition of the Dutch World Superbike event. The only change is the leader, and while it was Tom Sykes who took charge earlier, it was a surprising Alex Lowes who led the way in the afternoon.
Riding the Yamaha, the Brit beat the rain that started to fall heavily shortly before the session's end, ducking under 1’53” to stop the clock at 1’52”701. Sykes followed, the fastest Kawasaki rider, despite being almost six tenths from the front (+0.587). The top three was completed by another Yamaha, ridden by Sylvain Guintoli (+1.145).
Just 0.01 of a second behind the Frenchman was the Ducati of Spaniard Forés. At the team's home track, it was once again Nicky Hayden (+1.369) waving the flag for Honda. The American closed this first day in fifth, meaning that Rea (+1.406) had to settle for sixth. A tough Friday for the Kawasaki man, slowed down by a technical problem and finishing the day more than a second from his team-mate.
Davide Giugliano recovered somewhat this afternoon, as he seeks to make up for disappointing results in Thailand and Spain. In the wet, the Ducati rider scored seventh position (+1.566), just 0.01 quicker than Lorenzo Savadori. Local hero Michael van der Mark also closed inside the top ten, 0.003 of a second behind the Ioda rider, despite a small crash. Chaz Davies finishes up tenth (+1.647), having also suffered a crash during the morning's session.
