2010 Assen World Superbike Race 2 Result - Another Barnburner Settled With A Few Laps To Go

Results and summary of the second World Superbike race at Assen:

Johnny Rea completed the double at Assen today, taking another solid victory after a breathtaking race. BMW's Troy Corser once again got the holeshot, leading Alstare Suzuki's Leon Haslam and the Ten Kate Honda of Johnny Rea into the first corner. Within a couple of corners, Rea was past Haslam, and for a few moments, it looked like Haslam could suffer a repeat of race 1, when low pressure in the front tire slowed the Suzuki rider badly. But by lap 2, with Haslam still fully in the running, it was clear that the problems had not reappeared.

The race quickly turned into the kind of fully-blown spectacle that World Superbike rounds at Assen so quickly turn into. By lap 6, a freight train of 8 riders had formed, consisting of Rea, Haslam and Corser, along with the Alitalia Aprilias of Leon Camier and Max Biaggi, the Althea Ducatis of Carlos Checa and Shane Byrne, and the Sterilgarda Yamaha of James Toseland, who was storming through the field once again.

A dogfight developed for the lead, with Troy Corser and Johnny Rea swapping the lead early, before Leon Haslam barged past Rea at the GT chicane at the halfway mark, and then Corser at the same place a lap later. Corser tried seizing the lead on the way into Turn 2, Madijk, but Haslam slammed him aside, sliding back into the lead a corner later. Rea followed Haslam through a few corners later, sliding through at the Stekkenwal to take over 2nd.

This was the signal for all hell to break loose, with the passes getting more brutal and more daring as the race wound down. Corser passed Rea on the entry into the new Ruskenhoek, an audacious pass at high speed, but Rea was straight back as the heeled over left for the Ruskenhoek proper. Behind Corser, Leon Camier bundled under James Toseland at Mandeveen, but Toseland was having none of it, and was back by the next corner.

At the front, Johnny Rea bust past Haslam and back into the lead at the Haarbocht, a move which Haslam reciprocated again at the Ruskenhoek, copying Corser's adventurous example. Not to be outdone, Rea took on Haslam at Hoge Heide, the fastest and scariest part of the track. Rea's reward was short-lived, though, as Haslam was back again at the GT chicane. Turn 1 saw Rea get back again, and this time, he made it stick on the Alstare Suzuki rider. 

The two had now opened a gap back to the battle for 3rd, which was now big enough to leave them unthreatened. Rea put the hammer down for the last five laps, pulling out nearly two seconds over his fellow Briton Haslam, to secure his double victory for the HANNSpree Ten Kate team.

Rea's and Haslam's breakaway was assisted by the bickering which was going on behind them. Aprilia's Leon Camier and Yamaha's James Toseland were scrapping hard over the final podium place, an argument which Camier seemed to have settled in his favor, until a mistake saw him run wide, touch the astroturf on the outside of the Meeuwenmeer, and send his bike tumbling wildly through the grass. Camier's error handed Toseland third place, his second podium of the day, and far more than he had expected after a very mediocre Superpole. Max Biaggi got past Troy Corser to take 4th, with Carlos Checa edging Jakub Smrz for 6th.

A technical problem for Noriyuki Haga saw the Japanese rider's hopes of a title become yet more distant, while Michel Fabrizio's 12th place finish completed a miserable weekend for the Xerox Ducati team.

Haslam's 2nd place saw him extend his title lead over Max Biaggi to 20 points, while Johnny Rea leaps up into 3rd place in the championship, 38 points behind the leader Haslam.

Results: