Hometown hero Michael van der Mark was the only man to get within half a second of reigning WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea in today’s opening practice at Assen.
The Dutchman briefly deposed Rea at the top of the timesheets with six minutes left to go, setting a 1’35.931 but the Kawasaki man was having none of it, putting in a 1’35.662 three minutes later to take the bragging rights.
Barni Ducati’s Xavi Fores banged in a late one to promote himself from fourth to third with a 1’36.359 but is almost seven-tenths behind the leader. Fores’ time pushed Tom Sykes back a place but the troubled Huddersfield man already looks more comfortable on his ZX-10RR than he did last weekend at Aragon.
Althea BMW's Loris Baz appears to have found the very narrow operating window in which the S1000RR is happy, setting the fourth-fastest time with only seven minutes to run but laps from Fores and a late on from Chaz Davies saw him slip back to sixth.
Aruba Ducati's Davies has been a slow-starter this season but the methodical process is working. The Welshman is eight-tenths off Rea and four-tenths from Fores on the sister Panigale. Team-mate Marco Melandri, however, is back in eighth with the Pata Yamaha of Alex Lowes in seventh.
Jordi Torres stuck the ever-ageing MV Agusta in ninth with Ducati wunderkind Michael Ruben Rinaldi in tenth. Milwaukee Aprilia's Lorenzo Savadori crashed early doors which brought out the red flags but he was unhurt and back aboard the RSV4 as soon as pitlane re-opened to go 12th fastest behind Tati Mercado.
Jake Gagne, PJ Jacobsen and Topratz complete the top 15.
