Assen WSBK: Rea beats home hero van der Mark to win

Kawasaki rider Rea was up to the lead on the opening lap from second on the grid with van der Mark, starting seventh, making quick moves on Alex Lowes and Xavi Fores to run second.

The local rider put pressure on Rea in the first half of the race, and managed to take the lead at Turn 15 for two laps before the reigning champion retook first with an identical move.

Van der Mark's Yamaha teammate Lowes held third up until that point but then he started to dramatically lose pace with Chaz Davies taking his position.

Ducati man Davies then also passed van der Mark for second but, with five laps remaining, the duo switched places again.

However Rea was then able to pull away and he eventually took the chequered flag by 0.981s.

Van der Mark collected his 12th WSBK podium in second, with Davies holding off the second Kawasakk of Tom Sykes for third.

Sykes passed Ducati duo Xavi Fores and Marco Melandri, who struggled for pace during the late stages, to finish fourth.

Althea BMW's Loris Baz was seventh, followed by Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing), who beat Jordi Torres (MV Agusta) by four tenths.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Puccetti Kawasaki) completed the top 10 with Lowes dropping as low as 12th behind Roman Ramos.

The two crashers of the race were Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Ducati) and Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia), who fell at Turns 7 and 5 respectively.

Race 1 results:

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	33'40.360
2	Michael van der Mark	Yamaha	0.981
3	Chaz Davies	Ducati	1.282
4	Tom Sykes	Kawasaki	1.413
5	Xavi Fores	Ducati	8.625
6	Marco Melandri	Ducati	14.903
7	Loris Baz	BMW	17.301
8	Leandro Mercado	Kawasaki	21.482
9	Jordi Torres	MV Agusta	21.938
10	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Kawasaki	24.939
11	Roman Ramos	Kawasaki	27.049
12	Alex Lowes	Yamaha	33.226
13	Davide Giugliano	Aprilia	35.630
14	PJ Jacobsen	Honda	38.480
15	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia	38.604
16	Yonny Hernandez	Kawasaki	44.690
17	Ondrej Jezek	Yamaha	51.135
Ret	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	Ducati	16 laps