The French MV Agusta rider Cluzel finished second after a heated duel with Sofuoglu which moves him into third place in the overall Supersport standings. Zanetti finished fifth and is first in the overall standings.
In WSBK MV Agusta’s Camier is increasingly stable in the top-ten.
Assen (NL) - The fourth WSBK round arrived at one of the nicest and most legendary tracks in the history of motorcycle racing, the Dutch TT circuit Assen.
The weekend got off to a great start for Reparto Corse with Cluzel taking his third pole position of the season (1’38.015) and Zanetti (1’38.685) on the second row with the fifth best time.
In the WSBK the team saw a brilliant performance from Leon Camier who, for the first time this season, qualified for SP2 with the eleventh best time (1’36.402) which earned him a spot on the fourth row between the two Ducati’s ridden by Mercado and Terol.
At the start of the WSS race Smith and his Honda smoked the rest and moved into the lead, ahead of Sofuoglu, Cluzel, Jacobsen and Zanetti. In the lap 3 the Frenchman took care of both his Turkish rivals and the Englishman from team Pata to move into the lead, on the following lap putting in the best lap time (1’38.976).
Once in the lead Cluzel began to push, opening up a gap between himself and Sofuoglu of more than six lengths, a gap that the tough team Kawasaki Puccetti rider Sofuoglu reduced lap by lap and moving back into the lead during the ninth lap.
It was the start of a duel and lightning fast laps with Cluzel coming out on top when, on the 15th lap, he set the new track race record at 1’38.184.
The two riders in the lead began to size one another up as they awaited the chequered flag, with Cluzel overtaking Sofuoglu on the outside and then losing grip in the direction change on the "S" just before the finish. It seemed like an insurmountable gap but Cluzel managed to close it and during the last lap he pulled the pin on his final attack at the last turn just before the home stretch but he was stopped by contact with his adversary who abruptly shut the door on him.
Cluzel was forced off the track but managed to re-enter and hold onto second place ahead of Smith with Zanetti finishing sixth, 15.093 behind, with the satellite MV F3 ridden by Baldolini finishing in ninth place.
In the overall standings Cluzel moves back into third place with 45 points behind American Jacobsen (55 points) and current leader Sofuoglu with 80 points and Zanetti fifth with 41 points.
“This is the most competitive class in WSBK,” said Craig Langton MV Agusta SA Sales Director. “After last years close finish for Cluzel that saw him only just miss taking the title for the MV Agusta team and the first title since Ago’s retirement many years ago, the MV Agusta factory is adamant that this year the title will be there’s.”
At the finish the Frenchman Cluzel had this to say: “I'm quite happy with the race and my pace. We took the fast lap and the track record. I knew that Kenan would do anything to win and that's what we saw. Too bad, but I'm pleased that the next race is at Imola because it's a track that particularly suits my riding style.”
In WSBK the MV Agusta F4 RC of Leon Camier reconfirmed his solid placement in the top-ten. In a race characterised by a dominating Johnny Rea who took the double win and the hometown hero's podium finish,
In Race 1 Leon finished ahead of Mercado, whereas in Race 2 he crossed the wire in front of Baiocco's Ducati, lapping time during the race (1’36.652) with times quite close to those on the sheets during qualifying (1’36.402).
The next round is scheduled for 10th May at Imola, the first of two Italian rounds on the 2015 calendar.
