Toprak Razgatlioglu takes Assen WordSBK pole, Lowes second

Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu dominated qualifying for the World Superbike Championship round at Assen, securing pole position by nearly half a second over Kawasaki’s Alex Lowes.

In qualifying, Razgatlioglu was the first rider to break the 1m34s barrier, blasting around the track in 1m33.846s on his first flying lap to position himself comfortably ahead of the chasing pack led by Jonathan Rea.

When Rea went to the track for a final effort, he managed to overtake Razgatlioglu, but his reign was short-lived as the Turkish rider responded with a 1m32.934s, creating a new all-time record for a WSBK bike at the Dutch circuit clinching the pole position.

In the 15-minute pole shootout, Lowes finished second on the grid, but his timing of 1m33.412s was 0.478s slower than polesitter Razgatlioglu.

Rea, a six-time WSBK championship winner, had to settle for third place, trailing his younger teammate Lowes and 0.687s behind incumbent champion Razgatlioglu.

Andrea Locatelli classified fourth on the other factory Yamaha, just over a tenth of a second ahead of Friday’s leader Alvaro Bautista of Ducati. Garrett Gerloff, the highest independent rider, finished sixth on his GRT Yamaha, taking the final slot on the second row of the grid.

Loris Baz, a former MotoGP rider, qualified eighth with a time of 1m34.453s on his BMW satellite bike, beating Iker Lecuona’s Honda.

With teammate Eugene Laverty deemed unfit for the remainder of the weekend after a high-side collision in Friday practise, Baz was the only Bonovo MGM representative in qualifying.

Axel Bassani of Motocorsa Ducati and Lucas Mahias of Puccetti Kawasaki rounded out the top ten, both finishing almost 1.7s off the pace in qualifying.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi qualified 12th on the factory Ducatis, trailing not only his teammate Bautista but also the satellite Ducatis of Bassani (ninth) and Philipp Oettl (twelfth) (GoEleven, 11th).

Scott Redding qualified in the top ten on his works BMW following the first set of runs, but after returning to the circuit for the final five minutes of the session, he drove wide at Turn 8.

Redding was fortunate to avoid the gravel trap, but his off-track excursion put him in 13th spot on the grid, two places ahead of teammate Michael van der Mark. Meanwhile, Leon Haslam’s comeback to WSBK on the Pedercini Kawasaki resulted in a qualifying position of 17th.

2022 WORLD SUPERBIKE ASSEN, NETHERLANDS – SUPERPOLE RESULTS