World SBK in Junior TT format at Assen
World Superbike has arrived at the Assen circuit for the third round of the season, which gets underway tomorrow. The first event on the weekend schedule, before the traditional afternoon Open Paddock, was the inauguration of the Assen Junior TT Circuit, built in record time at the entrance and designed to help Dutch youngsters enter the world of bike racing.
Six WSB riders were present at the event: Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike), John Hopkins (Crescent FIXI Suzuki), Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport), Carlos Checa (Ducati Althea), Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team), who posed for photographs and signed autographs.
Rea, Hopkins and Haslam did a couple of laps of the track together with the youngsters. The first two were on mini-bikes, while Haslam was on an even smaller pocket-bike.
Also present at the inauguration were Barry Veneman, the ex-IDM, World Supersport and wild-card Superbike rider last year at Assen, now coach for the Dutch Motorcycle Federation's youth sector, Paolo Ciabatti (SBK Superbike Director), the Mayor of Assen, the Governor of the Province of Drenthe, the President of the Dutch National Olympic Committee, the Board of Directors of the TT Circuit and the KNMV (Dutch National Motorcycling Federation).
