Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea obliterated the Assen WorldSBK outright lap record to take pole position for the two Dutch races but got involved in some handbags with title rival Chaz Davies at turn seven on his slowing down lap.
Rea put in a 1’33.505 with his final lap to go 0.852s faster than Loris Baz’s pole record, set in 2014 on Pirelli’s super-sticky one-lap qualifiers, with team-mate Tom Sykes two-tenths slower to take second. The pair are a country mile ahead of Davies, who ended in third but 0.986s off the pace.
Davies got upset with Rea as the Kawasaki man was cruising back to the pits. Davies said he had to taken avoiding action, whacking Rea on the arm as he passed and then the argument got very heated in parc ferme as the Welshman demanded an apology. Rea eventually complied but looked like he still couldn’t see what he did wrong. The results were subsequently put under review but then confirmed.
Milwaukee Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori finished just two-tenths behind Davies to head the second row, finding 1.3s between free practice two yesterday and Superpole two while Marco Melandri finished in fifth place but is some 1.277s slower than Rea over one lap.
Eugene Laverty completes the second row on a 1’34.880 while Xavi Fores came through Superpole one to end in seventh place. Hometown hero Michael Van Der Mark put his Pata Yamaha in eighth with Jordi Torres and Nicky Hayden, also a Superpole one man, completing the top ten.
Leon Camier was seven-tenths faster than yesterday but could only find enough pace for 11th with Alex Lowes, who crashed twice yesterday, rounding out row four Randy Kreummenacher, Alex De Angelis and Roman Ramos complete the top 15.
