Assen, race 1: Furious Ducati victory with Huertas / Supersport World Championship

The bad weather in Assen continued after the race in the Superbike category. After a long period of rain and the track was largely dry, drops again fell from the dark clouds over the TT circuit ahead of the first race of the Supersport World Championship. When the race started at 3:15 p.m., half of the track was completely wet.

Ten Kate ace Stefano Manzi started from pole, but it was teammate Glenn van Straalen on the orange Yamaha R6 who caught the eye in second place. Ducati rider Adrian Huertas completed the front row. Marcel Schrötter was lurking in 4th place on the grid and his Swiss MV Agusta Marcel Brenner (Kawasaki) only qualified 32nd on the grid.

The race was decided by the choice of tires. The front drivers on the starting grid relied on slicks and fell far behind within just a few corners, while the drivers with wet tires at the front drove several seconds faster per lap. It wasn’t until the middle of the race that the lap times started to converge, and in the end the nimble drivers gained an advantage – but they were already far behind.

Only an angry Adrian Huertas came forward. The Ducati rider plowed through the field in the final third of the race and rode up to six seconds faster than the rest In the 17th of 18 laps, the 20-year-old took the lead and won by 8 seconds over Manzi, who. He was in the last chicane to secure second place. Valentin Debise (Yamaha) came third with wet tyres.

The best MV Agusta fleet brought Federico Caricasulo to the finish line in 6th place, just 0.037 seconds behind Jorge Navarro as the best Triumph rider. It wasn’t enough for Kawasaki to score World Championship points – Can Öncü finished 16th.

For Marcel Schrötter, the first run was a disaster. At one point he was more than a minute behind and out of the points, but the Bavarian managed to move up to 12th place in the final third of the race.

There were no points for Marcel Brenner in 22nd place.

Here’s how the race went:

Start: Manzi in front of Schrötter and van Straalen in the first corner. Then Baldassarri and Huertas. Niki Tuuli (Ducati) crashes at turn 1.

Lap 1: In the wet part of the track the procedure is completely mixed. Tom Edwards leads ahead of Luke Power and Valentine Debise. Manzi in 5th place Schrötter has to leave the piste and is back in 16th place. Fall of Kibinada-Amos.

Round 2: Drivers with wet tires run for 1:48 minutes, those with downhill 1:55 minutes fall.

Round 3: Schrötter is passed to 22nd place. Brenner on 18th Navarro (Victory) in 1:47.530 minutes.

Lap 4: Luke Power (MV Agusta) leads ahead of Edwards, Debise and McPhee. Navarro (5th) 3.5 seconds back. Manzi is only in 14th place.

Lap 5: Navarro (5th) is fast approaching the quartet at the top with 1:47.318 minutes. Fall of Baldassarri. Brenner (20th) and Schrötter (21st) immediately behind each other.

Lap 6: Navarro (5th) just 1.5 seconds behind leader Edwards.

Lap 7: Navarro takes 4th place from McPhee. The times for laps and wet tires and slopes are getting closer.

Lap 8: Fastest lap Debise (1st) in 1:47.302 minutes Manzi (12th) is 27 seconds behind, Schrötter (20th) 50 seconds! The best pilot with a trick is Antonelli (Ducati) in 6th place (+16 seconds).

Lap 9: Debise leads by 1.4 seconds over Power, Edwards and Navarro. The fastest lap was Huertas (13th) at 1:45.889 with a skier.

Lap 10: Manzi is ninth, 30 seconds behind.

Stage 11: Huertas passed Manzi in 1:44.019 in 8th place. The Spaniard was more than two seconds faster.

Stage 12: Debise confidently leads by 4 seconds. Huertas is now sixth.

Lap 13: Rain starts again, Huertas continues to set fastest laps unimpeded at 1:42.547.

Lap 14: Huertas has caught up with McPhee and is 14 seconds behind the leader – the Ducati rider is 6 seconds faster per lap.

Stage 15: Huertas passed Navarro with only 8 seconds behind. Manzi has moved up to 6th place. Schrötter is in 17th place.

Stage 16: Huertas passes drivers on wet tires as if they were standing still.

Stage 17: Debise is powerless as he is pushed out of goal by Huertas. Manzi (fourth) just seconds behind the podium.

Last round: Huertas wins ahead of Manzi and Debise. Schrötter on the 12th.