The utterly luckless Red Bull Honda squad saw Leon Camier, their 2018 shot of highly competitive energy, out after a heavy crash at WorldSBK Aragon, and also out for their home round in Assen with broken ribs.

After an impossibly heavy dose of bad luck in 2017, with everything from the true human tragedy of losing Nicky Hayden in a road cycling accident to any number of reasons for lowly results on track, the second year of Red Bull sponsorship was supposed to be much better.

And at times it really has been.

With Camier and up-and-coming American rider Jake Gagne, they had a classic mix of experience and relative youth, but at Assen even Gagne was ruled out of Saturday’s Superpole and race after his heavy crash on Friday. He flew so fast and so hard in FP2 that it is amazing that he did not break any bones.

A hard hit on his hip and his elbow did not improve overnight, so it was thought best to miss race one for sure, said his team-manager Kervin Bos. “At the moment the body slows him down and with a body that is not fully fit, and what happened yesterday, it does not give us all the confidence to put Jake on the bike. So it is medical decision to keep him on the sidelines to be sure that he is in proper condition before we go out again.”

Gagne will be re-assessed on Sunday morning but from a realistic viewpoint, if he had to miss Saturday then Sunday looks tough too. If that were to happen it would leave precisely no Red Bull Hondas on track for either of the team’s home SBK races.