| Crazy Saturday at Assen. Bautista battles for the win but is halted by the red flag with Bulega eleventh. Huertas completes an incredible comeback in WorldSSP: from P22 to first |
Unpredictable weather makes Saturday in Assen spectacular. Alvaro Bautista finishes third while Bulega has to settle for 11th place, which, however, allows him to keep the leadership of the Superbike World Championship, 1 point ahead of his teammate and Toprak Razgatlioglu (BMW).
Despite the rain that fell during the grid alignment, both Aruba.it Racing - Ducati team riders (as well as most of their rivals) decided to start on slick tyres.
The first laps were difficult for everyone except for Spinelli (Barni - Ducati), who started on the intermediate tyre and immediately built a large lead. Bautista was the protagonist of a splendid duel with Razgatlioglu and, as the track dried, he made up seconds to Spinelli. With seven laps to go, however, the red flag stopped the race a few seconds after the Turkish rider overtook the reigning World Champion, who finished on the podium.
Bulega, on the other hand, failed to stay with the leading group and closed in 11th position.
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati #1)
"It's a really weird weekend because we didn't manage to work well during free practices and also today the rain mixed things up at the last moment. The first few laps were really hard because half the track was wet and it was very difficult to ride. Then the track dried out and I gained confidence. I might have had a chance to catch up with Spinelli but the red flag came out. But that's okay. I had fun."
Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati #11)
"Unfortunately, we decided to race with the slick tyre a little late and that didn't allow us to prepare the bike with the dry set-up. In the beginning, I struggled a lot and lost a lot of positions but even when the track dried the feeling obviously couldn't be the best. Day to file but tomorrow we will do everything to get back to the top positions."
Adrian Huertas is the protagonist of a sensational race. The Spanish rider started the race on slick tyres despite the track being extremely wet. In the first laps, he sank from the front row to 22nd position then he began an incredible comeback by recording an endless series of fast laps that led him to triumph by a large margin."
Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WSSP #99)
"It was a very good race. In the beginning, it was very difficult and my goal was to stay focused and not to make mistakes. Then when the track started to dry I was able to push with high confidence to take this beautiful victory." |
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