2023 World Superbike - Round 3 - Assen

Well, Assen is underway and it looks like we may have an interesting weekend ahead, depending on Bautista's ability to get setup dialed in. Should be a good time at the cathedral of motorsport.

Superbike FP2 Results:
1. Alvaro Bautista - SPA - Aruba.It Racing Ducati - 1:34.316s
2. Alex Lowes - GBR - Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK - +0.231s
3. Jonathan Rea - GBR - Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK - +0.257s
4. Dominique Aegerter - SWI - GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team - +0.284s
5. Remy Gardner - AUS - GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team - +0.397s
6. Michael Van Der Mark - NED - ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team - +0.595s
7. Axel Bassani - ITA - Motocorsa Ducati - +0.632s
8. Andrea Locatelli - ITA - Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK - +0.650s
9. Garrett Gerloff - USA - Bonovo Action BMW - +0.708s
10. Toprak Razgatlioglu - TUR - Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK - +0.787s
11. Danilo Petrucci - ITA - Barni Spark Racing Team - +0.790s
12. Scott Redding - GBR - ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team - +0.825s
13. Iker Lecuona - SPA - Team HRC WorldSBK - +0.837s
14. Xavi Vierge - SPA - Team HRC WorldSBK - +0.957s
15. Philipp Oettl - GER - GoEleven Ducati - +0.963s
16. Michael Ruben Rinaldi - ITA - Aruba.It Racing Ducati - +1.201s
17. Bradley Ray - GRB - Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSBK Team - +1.576s
18. Eric Granado - BRA - PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing - +1.807s
19. Lorenzo Baldassarri - ITA - GMT94 Yamaha - +1.811s
20. Loris Baz - FRA - Bonovo Action BMW - +1.983s
21. Hafizh Syahrin - MAL - PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing - +1.991s
22. Tom Sykes - GBR - Puccetti Kawasaki - +2.231s
23. Gabriele Ruiu - ITA - Bmax Racing - +2.510s
24. Oliver Konig - CZE - Orelac Racing Kawasaki - +2.523s
25. Isaac Vinales - SPA - TPR by Vinales Racing - +3.014s

Well, I spoke to soon. Bautista in control after FP2. Some crazy results in the times right now. GYTR Yamahas dominating the factory bikes, and Toprak is last Yamaha. Redding is the last of the healthy BMW riders. Michael Ruben Rinaldi has fallen back to earth for now, and the rest of the Ducati stable are far behind Bautista.

Brad Ray doing an okay job. We'll have to see if he can pick up a few tenths and avoid being left at the back of the grid for qualifying.

The usual 3 at the top of superpol while Gardner slips to 11th after some promising practice results.

Well, Superbike was relatively uneventful. Bautista is in the zone, and he's not fishing for time with setup at each round. Barring injury it seems Bautista may have this locked up, but you never know in SBK. The winds of change have blown midseason before.

Anything can still happen but it sure looks as if this is Bautista's to lose. I think at this point only Bautista can beat Bautista and that's not likely to happen.

PRS717 said:

Anything can still happen but it sure looks as if this is Bautista's to lose. I think at this point only Bautista can beat Bautista and that's not likely to happen.

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I'm thinking the same but I do recall Bautista's first year in WSBK when he pretty much won everything early on and then went to see giving Rea the championship. It should be noted that Rea was grabbing most of the seconds early on in that year where the first 3 rounds this year has provided a different outcome.

I'm wondering about Rinaldi, only 3 points ahead of Petrucci who is in a 3rd level team. Bassini is looking good and there's Aegereta + Gardner out there too.

Yeah, it will be a waiting game at this point. Several seasons have experienced unexpected changes in the competitive landscape, usually around the halfway mark. If Bautista experiences difficulties this year, it will be injury or tires. Hopefully neither will happen because competitive shenanigans are not my favorite, and it may not lead to more interesting racing. For all we know, Toprak or someone else could clear off.

On another note, Gerloff is having another underwhelming season, despite rejoining his old crew chief. Part of it is BMW who still seem somewhat lost, and the other part seems to be Garrett's inability to achieve race pace in the early laps. It's nice to have an American in WSBK, but he might be better suited for a return to MotoAmerica.

mylexicon said:

Yeah, it will be a waiting game at this point. Several seasons have experienced unexpected changes in the competitive landscape, usually around the halfway mark. If Bautista experiences difficulties this year, it will be injury or tires. Hopefully neither will happen because competitive shenanigans are not my favorite, and it may not lead to more interesting racing. For all we know, Toprak or someone else could clear off.

On another note, Gerloff is having another underwhelming season, despite rejoining his old crew chief. Part of it is BMW who still seem somewhat lost, and the other part seems to be Garrett's inability to achieve race pace in the early laps. It's nice to have an American in WSBK, but he might be better suited for a return to MotoAmerica.

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Definitely a long way to go but I don't see Bautista repeating his 2nd half of the 2019 season. It was disappointing to see Toprak fade in every race this past weekend. If things keep up, Bassani will get Rinaldi's seat with the factory team and deservedly so. Locatelli starting to shine as well. I also think it may be time KRT to start thinking about a replacement for Alex Lowes but not sure who that could be.

Looking at the #2 riders in the main 3 teams Locatelli seems to be the best so there seems to be little opportunity for a rider to get into the Factory Yamaha team however if Toprak is keen to get into MotoGP he might need to switch to a Ducati and while unlikely to happen that would open up a Yamaha seat to someone like Gardner, Aegerter or even Morbidelli