Assen: Anniversaries, Milestones, Highs and Lows, Times to B

ANNIVERSARIES OF THE WEEK
- 23rd of April, 2006: 50th podium for Troy Bayliss and 100th podium for Troy Corser at Valencia, It must be noted that at Donington this year Corser equalled Carl Fogarty at first place in the number of podium finishes: 109.
- 23rd of April, 2000: first win for Aprilia in Phillip Island, by Troy Corser. The Aussie also recorded the first fastest lap for the Italian manufacturer on the same weekend;
- 24th of April, 2005: 100th race start for Chris Walker at Valencia;
- 27th of April, 2003: first pole position for Regis Laconi at Sugo. In race 2 Pierfrancesco Chili gains his 25th fastest lap;
- 28th of April, 1996: tenth podium for Anthony Gobert at Donington. 1991: first and only podium for the late Juan Manuel Lòpez Mella at Jarama. In race 2 on the same weekend, Ducati recorded it's 25th fastest lap with Doug Polen. The 28th of April is Joshua Brookes' birthday;
- 29th of April, 2001: 150th race start for Pierfrancesco Chili at Sugo. On the same weekend Akira Yanagawa reached his 100th start. First pole and fastest lap for Makoto Tamada. In this all-japan weekend there is room also for Hitoyasu Izutsu and Tamaki Serizawa, who gained respectively the first front row and first podium.

MILESTONES IN ASSEN
- 1992: Raymond Roche scored his 25th (and last) fastest lap. He was the first rider in history to reach this goal. Roche's record remained unbeaten until the 28th of May 1995, when Carl Fogarty equaled it at Donington. Fogarty recorded 48 fastest laps in his career and is the all-time leader;
- 1993: 75th win for Ducati by Carl Fogarty in race 1. In the second race Fogarty took his 10th win;
- 1996: 25th win for Honda by Carl Fogarty;
- 2001: 100th pole position for Ducati (Troy Bayliss), the Italian manufacturer scored its 175th fastest lap in race 1 with Ruben Xaus;
- 2002: first career podium for James Toseland;
- 2004: 200th race start for Troy Corser, 10th pole position for Pierfrancescho Chili, the 125th for Ducati and the last one for the Italian rider;
- 2005: first pole position for Chris Vermeulen;
- 2006: first win (at the 131st start) for Chris Walker. First podium for Fonsi Nieto.

HIGHS AND LOWS OF 2006 IN ASSEN
- Best season result for Steve Martin, 11th in race 2 and for Max Neukirchner, 6th in race 1. Curiously Neukirchner scored this result out of his worst start position of the year: 23rd;
- Best season and career result for Fonsi Nieto with a 4th and a third;
- Best season qualifying result for Joshua Brookes: 20th and for Yukio Kagayama, 3rd;
- Worst season qualifying result for Regis Laconi, 17th, the same place he recorded in Losail.

TIMES TO BEAT - These are the best times recorded by Superbikes on the Assen track on its most recent version, measuring 4555 meters:
Ducati: 1'38"629 - 2006 - 999F06 - T.Bayliss - 2nd free practice
Suzuki: 1'38"965 - 2006 - GSX-R 1000 K6 - T.Corser - Superpole
Yamaha :1'39"009 - 2006 - YZF-R1 - N.Haga - Superpole
Honda: 1'39"410 - 2006 - CBR1000RR - J.Toseland - 2nd qualifying
Kawasaki: 1'39"743 - 2006 - ZX-10R - F.Nieto - 2nd qualifying

GAPS - The narrowest and largest margins of the Superbike class recorded in Assen:
Narrowest margin in race: 2004 - Race 2 - C.Vermeulen - J.Toseland - 0.037
Largest margin in race: 2000 - Race 1 - C.Edwards - J.Borja - 9.890
Narrowest margin in Superpole: 2002 - C.Edwards - R.Xaus - 0.009
Largest margin in Superpole: 1994 - C.Fogarty - M.Lucchiari 0.950(*)
(*) tenth higher gap of all-times.

World SBK