Garrett Gerloff’s chances for a podium finish in today’s World Superbike race one at Assen were dashed before the race even started with the Texan crashing out of the Superpole session on the opening lap. The GRT Yamaha rider failed to record a lap, and he was thus forced to start 21st and on the back row of the grid.
Gerloff put on a charge in the race, quickly passing seven riders to get to 14th. From there, the going was tougher, but Gerloff still managed to pick off riders, while the likes of Honda’s Alvaro Bautista, Kawasaki’s Alex Lowes and Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Michael Ruben Rinaldi crashed out in the early laps.
With five laps to go, Gerloff moved into sixth with a pass on Jonas Folger, and that’s where he finished.
The race was won by six-time World Champion Jonathan Rea – his 13th at Assen – after an early battle with Pata Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu and Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Scott Redding. In the end, it was Rea topping Redding by 3.3 seconds, with Razgatlioglu rounding out the podium.
Michael Van Der Mark rode his BMW to fourth, the Dutchman closing in on Redding and Razgatlioglu in the waning stages with the race coming to a premature conclusion two laps from the end when Folger crashed, bringing out a red flag.
With his victory, Rea moves back into the championship lead by seven points over Razgatlioglu, 206-199. Gerloff, meanwhile, is fifth in the World Superbike Championship, 11 points behind Lowes.
