Assen Statistics
• Max Biaggi in his Superbike career has only finished once on the podium in Assen out of six races: a third place in race two, 2007. In the 500cc/MotoGP class he won in 2001 in front of Valentino Rossi and Loris Capirossi and added to that two more podium finishes out of eight races started;
• Shane Byrne was in the points in both races last year with an eleventh and an eighth place. He wasn't so lucky in the MotoGP championship: he never scored points in the two races he ran for Aprilia and Proton;
• Two podiums in 2008 and a seventh place last year are Carlos Checa's results in Assen in his Superbike runs. In the 500cc/MotoGP class he obtained his best result in Assen in 1997, when he finished second behind Mick Doohan;
• Troy Corser ran twenty-six races in Assen, but never managed to climb on the top step of the podium. He scored three second places and a total of seven podium placements in the Netherlands, starting three times from pole. In the last three races run here he always finished tenth;
• Michel Fabrizio climbed on the podium in third in his first Superbike race, back in 2006, then he never managed to double that performance, albeit finishing four times in the top-10. Both in 2008 and in 2009 problems with his arm influenced his performances: he had to retire twice in 2008 and last year he missed on a podium finish, being forced to slow down in the closing laps. Michel was third in the 2005 Supersport race behind Fabien Foret and Sebastien Charpentier and fifth in the 2003 Superstock 1000 race;
• Noriyuki Haga won twice in Assen (2000 race two and last year, race two), he racked up ten podium placements and scored a total of 250 championship points in this track. The Japanese is second only to Carl Fogarty for podium placements in Assen (fifteen for Carl);
• The current championship leader, Leon Haslam, is the man to watch on the Dutch track. Six races run here in Superbike and he never finished lower than seventh, scoring a podium placement in both last year's races, respectively in third and second. Last year he started from the front row with the third fastest qualifying lap;
• Vittorio Iannuzzo is particularly unlucky in Assen: he withdrew two times in 2003 and 2008, three retirements and only one race finished, with a fifteenth in 2006, race one. Vittorio raced here also a total of six races in the Supersport and Superstock 1000 races, his best result was a sixth place in the 2002 Superstock 1000 race;
• Lorenzo Lanzi finished in the top-10 the first five races he contested here, obtaining as best result a fifth in 2007, race one. The same year in race two he fell and in 2008 he had to withdraw due to problems with his arm;
• Nine points finishes out of ten races for Max Neukirchner, who retired only in 2006, race two. The German started inside the top-10 in the last three editions and obtained his best result in 2008, race one, when he was third behind Bayliss and Checa;
• Broc Parkes raced in Superbikes here in 2001 and 2002, finishing eighth in race two, 2002. In the Supersport championship he raced here five times, obtaining his best result in 2004 (fourth). Broc retired in the 2006 and 2007 races, respectively when he was leading and when he was running second. Particularly costly was the 2006 fall, when he was in the lead: a shoulder and three ribs broken and a punctured lung;
• Andrew Pitt was fifth in both 2005 races and second in both races the following year, respectively behind Chris Walker and Troy Bayliss. Good performances also in the Supersport championship: a win in 2008 in front of Jonathan Rea and Joan Lascorz and three more podium placements, in 2001, 2004 and 2007;
• Jonathan Rea was seventh and fifth in the 2009 races. In the 2008 Supersport race he missed the win by 0"014 seconds, beaten to the flag by Andrew Pitt;
• Luca Scassa was able to score a point last year. In the 2006 Superstock 1000 race he finished fifth;
• Jakub Smrz finished his last five Superbike races always in the top-10 obtaining a third in race two last year, starting from the second grid spot;
• Two top-10 finishes for Tom Sykes in the only races run here last year: fourth and sixth;
• James Toseland won twice out of fourteen races contested in Assen: in 2004, race one, in front of Pierfrancesco Chili and Regis Laconi and in 2007 race one, in front of Noriyuki Haga and Ruben Xaus. For him also five more podium placements and a pole, scored in 2007. In his two years in the MotoGP championship was ninth in 2008 and sixth in 2009;
• Chris Vermeulen obtained outstanding results in Assen, winning three of the four races he contested here, starting both times from the front the front row. Chris' triple win spans from the second 2004 race and both 2005 ones. Curiously he defeated the same riders: James Toseland and Noriyuki Haga, second and third in 2004 race two and 2005 race one and third and second in race two, 2005. Chris managed to score pole in the 2002 and 2003 races of the Supersport Championship, finishing second behind Karl Muggeridge in the 2003 edition. In four years as a MotoGP driver his best result was a fifth obtained last year;
• A win in 2003, race one in front of team-mate Neil Hodgson and four more podium placements are the results obtained by Ruben Xaus, who hasn't finished on the podium since 2007, last year he was fourteenth and eleventh starting from the twentieth grid spot after experiencing setup problems in qualifying.
OTHER NOTES ON THE ASSEN RACES
• Aprilia managed to climb on the podium only in 2001, race two, with Troy Corser and in 2002, race one with Noriyuki Haga, in both cases in third. Not one of the Aprilia riders has ever managed to qualify on the front row;
• In the last four years Ducati have won five of the eight races run here, missing the top step of the podium in three occasions, in which they left the win to three different manufacturers: in 2009, race one, the winner was Spies on a Yamaha, in 2007, race one Toseland on a Honda, and in 2006, race one Chris Walker with the Kawasaki;
• Honda have won ten times in Assen, their last win dates back to 2007 (Toseland);
• Kawasaki obtained the last of their 35 superbikes wins here back in 2006 with Chris Walker;
• Suzuki have never managed to win on the Dutch track: for the Japanese manufacturer only three podium placements, three thirds by Gregorio Lavilla in 2003, race two, Max Biaggi in 2007, race two and in 2008 by Max Neukirchner in race one;
• Yamaha was back on the top step of the podium last year with Ben Spies after a wait that began in 2000 (Haga, race two). During this interval Yamaha was close to the win, obtaining five second places;
• In the last four editions there were four different manufacturers on pole: Suzuki in 2006 (Corser), Honda in 2007 (Toseland), Ducati in 2008 (Bayliss) and Yamaha in 2009 (Spies).
MILESTONES IN ASSEN
1992: Raymond Roche scored his 25th (and last) fastest lap. He was the first rider in history to reach this goal. Roche's record remained unbeaten until May 28th 1995, when Carl Fogarty equalled it in Donington;
1993: 75th win for Ducati by Carl Fogarty in race 1. In the second race Fogarty took his 10th win;
1996: 25th win for Honda by Carl Fogarty;
2001: 100th pole position for Ducati (Troy Bayliss), the Italian manufacturer scored its 175th fastest lap in race 1 with Ruben Xaus;
2002: first career podium for James Toseland;
2004: 200th race start for Troy Corser, 10th pole position for Pierfrancesco Chili, the 125th for Ducati and the last one for the Italian rider;
2005: first pole position for Chris Vermeulen;
2006: first win (at the 131st start) for Chris Walker. First podium for Fonsi Nieto;
2007: 50th podium placement for James Toseland;
2008: 20th pole for Troy Bayliss, 40th front row start for Noriyuki Haga;
2009: maiden podium for Jakub Smrz, the first rider from the Czech republic to climb on the podium in Superbike history.
SUPERSPORT FLASH DATA
• Honda have won the last eight races run here. The last one to win with a different bike was Paolo Casoli in 2001 (Yamaha). In the last two years this supremacy was broken only in qualifying, when the Yamahas of Parkes and Crutchlow started from pole in 2008 and 2009;
• The only riders to have won twice in Assen are Karl Muggeridge, Fabien Foret and Kenan Sofuoglu;
• The record man for podium finishes is Andrew Pitt, with four placements in the rostrum (2nd in 2001, 3rd in 2004, 2nd in 2007 and winner in 2008);
• Fabien Foret scored a total of 108 championship points at the Dutch track.
SUPERSTOCK 1000 FLASH DATA
Maxime Berger is the man to beat here: he won both races in 2008 and 2009 at this track, the only rider in championship history who has won twice at Assen.
IT HAPPENED AT VALENCIA
• second straight pole for Cal Crutchlow, only fourteen days after his maiden pole, scored in Portimao. Cal is third in the ranking of the fastest riders which claimed their first two poles. The fastest was Marco Lucchinelli, which took his second pole only seven days after his maiden one (Sugo-Le Mans 1988). Second is Ben Spies with thirteen days (Phillip Island-Losail 2009) and third, together with Crutchlow there is Rob Phillis (Shah Alam-Manfeild 1990);
• tenth front row start for Carlos Checa. It's his third straight front row, equalling his personal best scored from Monza to the Nurburgring in 2008;
• Max Biaggi in Valencia equalled a peculiar record in Superbike history, the one related to the highest number of front row starts without obtaining a pole. Max obtained on the Spanish track his seventeenth front row start, equalling Fabrizio Pirovano's record, which ended his career with the same figure (182 races);
• BMW scored their best result both in the starting grid and in the race, respectively a fifth and a fourth place with Troy Corser;
• James Toseland was back on the podium for the first time since the Vallelunga race in 2007;
• sixth Valencia win for Noriyuki Haga, the third absolute value for a single track. The highest value belongs to Carl Fogarty, with twelve wins in assen, then Troy Corser with seven in Phillip Island. Haga at the moment counts 42 race wins, exactly ten less than three-times world champion Troy Bayliss;
