2012 WSBK Assen Race 2 Results

Race two results:

Tyre choice would be a major factor with the event deemed a wet race. The choice of tyres ranged from full wets to slicks with a fair amount of riders choosing intermediate front tyres.

Jakub Smrz was one rider to take an intermediate front tyre and he broke away from everyone else, earning a 4 second lead after just a couple of laps. Carlos Checa was one rider on full wet tyres and he retired after a handful of laps.

Smrz led most of the race while race-one winner Sylvain Guintoli, Eugene Laverty, Leon Haslam, Marco Melandri and Jonathan Rea fought past pole man Tom Sykes. Guintoli was on full slicks and was the first rider to make the break to Smrz, making the best use of his faster tyres, and he was followed by Rea. Laps were ticked off as the huge gap to Smrz was closed a slice at a time and Guintoli easily pushed past him. Rea passed Smrz next and chased Guintoli, eventually passing him for the top spot. The podium places looked set until they caught the back marker Mark Aitchinson. The lead two passed him quickly enough, but he caused Smrz to run off onto the astroturf at high-speed, causing a crash that could have been horrifying, but luckily, Smrz just slid across the astroturf.

What followed for the last podium place was a proper stand-up scrap between Laverty, Melandri and Haslam, with all three of the riders leading at some point on the last lap.

Jonathan Rea won his fourth race at Assen and Guintoli took his sixth career podium. The hard podium fight behind them eventually went to Laverty, ahead of a BMW photo-finish with Melandri two-thousandths of a second ahead of Haslam.