Rea obtained the Superpole again, due to Bautista's penalty, and obtaining second place in the first race, a pity that he crashed in the second round that places him fifth in the general standings.
After a positive start to the free practice sessions for the Kawasaki Racing Team in which Alex Lowes and Jonathan Rea finished second and third respectively at the famous Assen TT circuit. A disputed qualyfication was held in which Jonathan Rea was second on the track, just 0.027 seconds behind Álvaro Bautista and his Ducati, who suffered a penalty for lapping slow on the fast track, dragging him to the fourth position on the grid while Rea climbed a place starting first from Pole Position.
During the first part of the first race, Rea showed great pace on the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR, leading the race for eight laps on the Catedral track.
In the second half, Rea suffered grip problems in the front end that prevented him from competing with Bautista once the Spanish rider caught up with the Northern Irishman. However, Rea was able to keep up the pace to prevent Toprak Razgatlioglu's Yamaha from passing him, eventually taking a valuable second position.
For his part, Alex Lowes, after a good qualifying session, gradually lost positions until finishing seventh in the first round.
In the Superpole race the Kawasaki Racing Team kept up their good pace getting a second place for Rea and a fourth for Alex Lowes.
The second race began with an unexpected turn when Lowes crashed on the recce lap, having to start from the back of the grid, although he was eventually able to finish in ninth position.
Rea had no luck either, after fighting for the top positions with Bautista and Razgatlioglu, he crashed on the sixth lap without being able to continue in the race.
After the Assen TT test, Rea is fifth in the general classification with 73 points, and Lowes is tenth with 44 points.
STATEMENTS:
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team Rider): "Of course I'm not happy with the result of race 2, but I have to take something positive from this weekend. The bike was easy to ride, and I did a few things in Assen which I hadn't been able to do in several years plus I've made good starts. We've checked the data to understand the dip and for some reason, all weekend long, I've had a bit of pressure on the gear stick. T9, as soon as I opened the throttle, third gear was engaged and that was enough to crash me. I am very frustrated because I felt that we could fight for the podium again. I felt much more comfortable in that race, compared to the first and with today's Superpole, the Superpole Race was a push to the limit for eight laps."
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team Rider): "This weekend has gone a bit better and when we have grip on the bike we can be quite fast. The 'Superpole Race' went quite well because I was one of the only ones who I was able to be with the three in front. The eight laps race was a little shorter than normal. The pace was fast and I felt good on the limit. Everyone is on the limit. I lost the front wheel on the warm up lap before race 2. Starting from the back of the grid was going to be difficult, but my pace improved a bit after making some changes to the bike. I was able to keep the grip on the front tire for five or six laps more and I was faster than the day before".
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