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The 2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship heads to the Netherlands for the fifth round of an unpredictable season, coming from the TT Circuit Assen for the Prosecco DOC Dutch Round. The Championship table shows Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) leading Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) by just two points, although the magic of Assen is sure to give surprises. A venue steeped in grandeur, splendour and history, we’ve number-crunched so you can arm yourself with crucial facts and trivia ahead of WorldSBK’s return to Assen.

469/354 – Kawasaki aim for a 470^th podium place and a 355^th podium in WorldSBK this weekend.

441 – Jonathan Rea has scored 441 points at Assen, the second highest for a single track after 449 he has at Portimao. Troy Corser is next with 380 points in Phillip Island.

210 – Kawasaki are aiming for a 210^th front row grid slot this weekend at Assen.

90 – Rea’s next win will be the 90^th for Kawasaki. He already holds the all-time record for a manufacturer: Carl Fogarty follows at 55 for Ducati.

56 – Assen is in third place for races hosted at 56. Phillip Island leads at 61, then Misano at 58.

50 – James Toseland, Max Biaggi and Jonathan Rea all achieved their 50^th podium at Assen. Toseland in Race 2 in 2007 (the closest margin between 1^st and 2^nd at Assen, losing to Bayliss by 0.009s), Biaggi in Race 1 2011 and Rea in Race 2 2015.

30 – The Dutch track is a home for British wins: no less than 30 out of the 56.

20 - No less than 20 different riders have won a WorldSBK race at Assen. Four of them are present in the 2021 field: Rea, Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), Eugene Laverty (RC Squadra Corse) and Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC).

13/18 – 13 is the dream number for Rea: this year he has again the chance to become the first rider with 13 wins on any given track in WorldSBK history. At the moment, he shares the record with Carl Fogarty, who scored 12 wins, like Rea, at Assen. Rea could equal the all-time record of podiums on any track in WorldSBK. He has 18 at Assen and with three this weekend, he’ll match his Aragon tally.

12 – The last of two Yamaha wins here came 12 years ago, in the hands of Ben Spies (Race 1 2009).

8-8 – Jonathan Rea and Carl Fogarty were able to win eight straight races at Assen. Fogarty set the record from 1993 to 1996, Rea from 2014 Race 2 to 2018 Race 1, both across two manufacturers.

6 – Only Kawasaki was able to take six straight poles at Assen, from 2012 to 2017. It was broken in 2018 by Alex Lowes, ending a Yamaha pole drought since 2011 (waiting 6 years, 308 days).

4 – Tom Sykes has the record for Assen poles: 4. Troy Corser and Frankie Chili are next with 3 each.

3 – Toprak Razgatlioglu has scored 3 wins this year, already equalling his tally from last year. It’s the best number for a Yamaha rider since Marco Melandri won four times ten years ago (2011).

3 – With two podiums in the Superpole Race and in Race 2 at Donington Park, Tom Sykes goes for three straight podiums since he took four in 2018 from Assen Race 2 to Donington Park Race 1.

2 – Two riders had maiden wins at Assen: Chris Walker (Race 1, 2006) and Sylvain Guintoli (Race 1, 2012).

1 – Only one rider has won a dry race from outside the top five: Jonathan Rea, 2017, Race 2, ninth.

1/11 – Rea raced in 11 WorldSBK Assen weekends and missed out on a podium finish only in 2009.

1-2-3 – Assen is where the last podium lockout for Ducati happened. That was in 2012, Race 1, with Sylvain Guintoli, Davide Giugliano and Carlos Checa (Guintoli’s first win, Giugliano’s first podium).

SHORTHAND NOTEBOOK

2019 race winners:

• Alvaro Bautista (Ducati, Race 1 and Race 2)

Last three pole-sitters at Assen:

• 2019: Alvaro Bautista (Ducati) 1’34.740
• 2018: Alex Lowes (Yamaha) 1’34.066
• 2017: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1’33.505

Manufacturer podium places (and wins) accumulated from all races at Assen:

• Ducati: 75 (27)
• Honda: 38 (15)
• Kawasaki: 25 (10)
• Yamaha: 16 (2)
• Aprilia: 9 (2)
• Suzuki: 5

Key gaps from Assen 2019:
 

• Front row covered by: 0.088s
• 1 second in Superpole covered… the top eight: 0.790s
• Closest race gap between 1^st and 2^nd: 3.130s (Bautista 1^st, Rea 2^nd, Race 1)
• Closest race podium: 4.706s (Bautista 1^st, van der Mark 2^nd, Rea 3^rd, Race 2)
• Closest podium of all-time at Assen: 0.070s (Fogarty 1^st, Corser 2^nd, Kocinski 3^rd, Race 2 1996)

Manufacturer top speeds at Assen, 2019:

• Ducati: Alvaro Bautista and Chaz Davies – 303.3 km/h, Race 2
• Yamaha: Alex Lowes – 300.0 km/h, Race 2
• Kawasaki: Leon Haslam – 299.1 km/h, Race 2
• BMW: Markus Reiterberger – 293.4 km/h, Race 2
• Honda: Leon Camier – 295.0 km/h, Race 2

Watch all the 2021 season unfold chapter-by-chapter with the comprehensive WorldSBK VideoPass!