Superbike: Preview of the round at the TT Circuit in Assen

Having archived the exciting round of Aragon and the victories of Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies, the ENI FIM Superbike World Championship returns this weekend to the historic TT Circuit in Assen, Holland, for the fourth round of the season.

Renamed the "Cathedral of Speed" or "University of two wheels", it has been present in the world championship calendar since 1992, the track is one of the oldest in the world (it was inaugurated in 1926) and this year it will host a WorldSBK round for the twenty-fourth time: only Phillip Island is longer-lived.

Located near the town of Assen of the same name, the track, in its current configuration, measures 4,542 km, has six left-hand bends and eleven right-hand bends which rest on terrain totally free from unevenness.
For each race, the drivers must cover a distance of 95.382 km in 21 laps.
The best lap still belongs to Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) who set a 2013'1 in the race in 35.893.
While the Superpole record belongs to Loris Baz (Kawasaki) who last year lapped in 1'34.357.

The active driver in the World Championship with the highest number of successes is championship leader Jonathan Rea, who reached the podium on four occasions, the last last year in race 2.

With his new Ninja ZX-10R the Northern Irish driver is keeping a truly impressive record with four wins and two second places in the first six races of the season.
However, the situation was diametrically opposite for Tom Sykes who finished Race 2 in Aragon with a bad fall after the encouraging performance and third place in the first race: in general it can be said that his start to the season is one of the most difficult of his career, also because the comparison with his teammate is inevitable.

On the contrary, the one who arrives at Assen confident is Chaz Davies who last round achieved the long-awaited first victory of the Panigale era for Ducati, thanks to a simply perfect performance.
Also in this event the Welshman will be joined by Xavi Fores, author of a more than convincing debut in Spain.

Called to reverse the trend are Sylvain Guintoli and Michael van der Mark, after yet another difficult weekend with results far from the expectations of the two reigning world champions: in the home race for both Pata Honda and the young Dutch rookie , they will try to give satisfaction to their audience.

After the Aragon debacle, largely due to technical problems, Alex Lowes Randy de Puniet and the MV Agusta Reparto Corse standard bearer Leon Camier will try to capitalize on the data obtained, to continue with the development of the new electronic systems adopted by last weekend.

Fresh from a good seasonal debut in Spain, Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia) will try to get even closer to the top-5, also the objective of Althea Racing riders, Nico Terol and Matteo Baiocco.
Comforting signs for Niccolò Canepa (Team Hero EBR), who finished both races, collecting his first point of the year in race 1.

Below are the weekend appointments and times:

Friday April 17th
11.15 – 12.00 – Free Practice 1
15.00 – 15.45 – Free Practice 2

Saturday April 18th
09.45 – 10.30 – Free Practice 3
12.30 – 13.00 – Free Practice 4
15.00pm – 15.15pm – Superpole 1
15.25pm – 15.40pm – Superpole 2

Sunday April 19
8.40 – 8.55 – SBK Warm-up
10.30 – Race 1
13.10 – Race 2