Reigning WorldSBK champ Jonathan Rea led the opening free practice at Assen this morning, taking a 0.165s advantage over local hero Michael van der Mark with current series leader Alvaro Bautista in fourth place.
The Kawasaki man was a second off his own lap record - set in 2017 - at the Dutch track but stone cold temperatures of 10°C mean that laptimes were kept down in a session where the top ten were covered by less than a second.
Pata Yamaha's Van der Mark put in a 1’35.763 to the delight of the home fans and he fended off a charge from the still down on power Tom Sykes in third. The BMW rider set a 1’35.789 but due to the track’s nature, the top speed deficit seen at Buriram and Aragon has been negated.
Aruba Ducati's Bautista, who had 250rpm knocked off his Panigale V4R during the week, is in fourth place and three-tenths off the pace. The little Spaniard didn't top any of the sector times in the session and is struggling in sector four.
Rea is quickest in all sectors, including the main straights, except for sector three where Markus Reiterberger is quickest. However, the Panigale is still king of the top speed hill (see chart below).
After a good showing in Spain last time out, Chaz Davies is back in the game and ended the morning in fifth place and less than a tenth off his team-mate with Reiterberger putting his BMW in sixth.
Leon Haslam finished in seventh but seven-tenths slower than Rea, struggling in sectors one and three with the works Kawasaki. Toprak Razgatlioglu - who is under the weather - started slowly but rallied to eighth place.
Alex Lowes suffered a fast crash at the De Bult left hander with half an hour left to run but looked unharmed. His time of 1'36.459 was enough for ninth place with Jordi Torres putting the Pedercini Kawasaki in tenth.
Marco Melandri is again struggling in 11th place while Leon Camier was putting in a sterling effort before he fell at the slow Strubben left-hander. The former BSB king finished with a 1'37.223 to secure 12th place in front of Eugene Laverty.
Camier's team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari is also taking advantage of track knowledge and the extra rpm handed out to Honda by series technical chief Scott Smart to finish in 13th, one ahead of Sandro Cortese. Hector Barbera was 15th.
Top speeds
1 7 C. DAVIES Ducati Panigale V4 R 295,1
2 19 A. BAUTISTA Ducati Panigale V4 R 294,3
3 50 E. LAVERTY Ducati Panigale V4 R 294,3
4 21 M. RINALDI Ducati Panigale V4 R 293,5
5 91 L. HASLAM Kawasaki ZX-10RR 293,5
6 54 T. RAZGATLIOGLU Kawasaki ZX-10RR 292,7
7 60 M. VAN DER MARK Yamaha YZF R1 292,7
8 23 R. KIYONARI Honda CBR1000RR 291,9
9 22 A. LOWES Yamaha YZF R1 291,1
10 81 J. TORRES Kawasaki ZX-10RR 290,3
11 1 J. REA Kawasaki ZX-10RR 290,3
12 33 M. MELANDRI Yamaha YZF R1 288,8
13 11 S. CORTESE Yamaha YZF R1 288,8
14 66 T. SYKES BMW S1000 RR 288,0
15 2 L. CAMIER Honda CBR1000RR 285,7
16 80 H. BARBERA Kawasaki ZX-10RR 284,2
17 28 M. REITERBERGER BMW S1000 RR 283,5
18 52 A. DELBIANCO Honda CBR1000RR 275,5
