Assen Circuit Hosts SBK Round for the 16th Time

DUTCH TREAT IN STORE FOR WORLD SUPERBIKE CLASSES Few circuits in the world have as much tradition and history as the track in the northern province of Van Drenthe, and for the 16th time in succession the World Superbike circus will be stopping off at the classic venue of Assen. Always evolving in terms of layout and facilities, Assen may be somewhat truncated from its previous versions, but it is still one of the tracks any rider with ambitions of greatness has high on his winning wish list.

The Assen SBK weekend is traditionally held in September, but this year the late April date sees it forming the ‘end of the beginning’, rather than it being a venue where many a championship fight is all but decided. The weekend starts with an Open Paddock show on Thursday 26th, with the first on-track action taking place on Friday 27th.

TOSELAND AHEAD BUT BIAGGI CLOSE BEHIND James Toseland (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) won his fourth race in eight attempts this season when he secured the top step of the podium in race two at Valencia, but fifth place in race one, largely due to a tyre spinning on the wheel rim, ensured that he made little clear space to overall second place rider, Max Biaggi (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra). Biaggi is now 13 points behind Toseland and has to meet the challenge of another circuit new to him in SBK guise, as Assen was modified again only last year, when Biaggi was not active in any world series.

HAGA AND CORSER THIRD AND FOURTH Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) and his team-mate Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia) sit third and fourth respectively in the 2007 championship chase, with Corser some 23 points behind his team-mate. On an all-new Yamaha R1 this year, this is already something of an achievement for each rider. Haga has winning form at the Dutch venue, having ridden the R7 Yamaha to a victory in 2000, but none of Corser’s 33 career race wins in SBK guise have come at Assen.

BAYLISS READY TO BLAZE HIS WAY AROUND ASSEN Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) bounced back from a desperate Donington no-score with third and sixth places at Valencia, and he now sits fifth overall, albeit some 61 points down on Toseland. His three previous Assen wins include one in 2006, meaning that he is the only rider in the championship with a win at Assen in its current 4.555km layout. Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) is currently sixth in the overall standings but has yet to score a Superbike podium at Assen. He has been a winner here in the past, however, taking the honours in the Superstock 1000 class in 2003.

XAUS THE MAN TO WATCH On a 2006 factory machine with a strong electronics package, Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Ducati) blew the opposition away at Valencia in race one two weeks ago, and he must also be considered a potential podium man at Assen. He won a Superbike race there in 2003 and a WSS race in 2000, and even though Assen has been through many changes in layout since then, Xaus has shown himself to be able to master tracks of all kinds.

NEUKIRCHNER’S CONSISTENCY PLACES HIM SEVENTH Max Neukirchner (Suzuki Germany) maintained his advantage over official Honda entrant Roberto Rolfo (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) after Valencia, and is still eighth after an impressive start to the season. On a private Suzuki, of largely 2006 vintage, Neukirchner is easily the best of the ‘real’ privateer riders so far.

KAWASAKI MEN HOPING FOR A REPEAT OF 2006 The current championship top ten is completed by Regis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) recovering from a low-scoring start of the season to be the top Kawasaki rider after four rounds and eight races. Both his team-mate Fonsi Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) and he will be hoping to emulate the win taken by 2006 team-member Chris Walker in 2006, when monsoon-like rains flooded the track. The Honda filling in the Kawasaki points standing sandwich comprises two ingredients, Michel Fabrizio (DFX Corse Honda) and Josh Brookes (Alto Evolution Honda), who share 32 points. Another factory rider with work to do to get back into the top ten places in Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) who is currently 14th overall after repeated injury and misfortune, one place up on Ducati rider Jakub Smrz (Caracchi SC Ducati). Karl Muggeridge (Alto Evolution Honda) will spend his weekend at Assen ensuring that he scores two good sets of points, to push himself back up the order after five no scores.

WORLD SUPERSPORT - CHASING PACK OUT TO BRIDGE THE GAP Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) has been in imperious form this year so far, having scored three wins and one second place, the net result of which is a massive 44 point lead over the chasing hordes of frequently fallen and injured riders.

Another astonishingly dramatic World Supersport race at the previous Valencia round saw Katsuaki Fujiwara (Althea Honda), then second overall, knocked off by a crash involving two other riders and dropping behind Australian race winner Fabien Foret (GIL Kawasaki) in the rankings. In fourth place currently, Robbin Harms (Stiggy Motorsports Honda) was also a Valencia no-scorer, as was Kevin Curtain (Yamaha SSP Racing) who now misses the Assen round after sustaining a long gash in his leg to go with an already broken collarbone. He will be replaced in the team by SBK regular Steve Martin, who now lines up alongside yet another Aussie rider, Yamaha SSP Racing regular Broc Parkes.

Sebastien Charpentier (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) will be back into the mix again after his injury at Donington, and the Ten Kate team will swell to three this weekend, with Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) returning to help Sofuoglu, after placing second in the recent Spanish race.

SUPERSTOCK 1000 FIM CUP - THIRD TIME LUCKY FOR PIRRO? After leading for more laps than any other rider in the big Superstock class this year, but not scoring wins in his rookie season yet, Michele Pirro (Team Lorenzini by Leoni Yamaha) may find his luck changing at Assen - but there are more than a handful of riders who may have something to say about this. Foremost among them will be race one winner Niccolo Canepa (Ducati Xerox 1098) and race two victor mark Aitchison (Celani Team Suzuki Italia). Third placed at present is Claudio Corti (Team Lorenzini by Leoni Yamaha), with Matteo Baiocco (Umbria Bike Yamaha) fourth and Ilario Dionisi (Cruciani Suzuki) fifth.

SUPERSTOCK 600 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP - MAXIME IN POINTS Team Yamaha Trasimeno rider Maxime Berger’s impressive win in wet conditions at Valencia puts him into the lead in the 600 Superstock division, with Donington race winner Michele Magnoni (Bevilacqua Yamaha) second, only two points behind after two rounds. Dutchman Roy Ten Napel (MQP Racing Team Yamaha) is himself a native of Assen, and comes back home to race in third place overall, with Andrea Antonelli (Team Italia Megabike AX) currently fourth and Domenico Colucci (Ducati Xerox 749) fifth.

MONZA THE NEXT DATE FOR THE SBK DIARY After Assen, Monza hosts round four of the championships, between 11 and 13 May.

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