Rea satisfied, Xaus sore, Lowes comfortable

The Castrol Honda World Superbike team has completed a two-day test at Assen, which saw the return from injuries for Jonathan Rea and Ruben Xaus, plus more mileage for rookie stand-in Alex Lowes.

Fine weather on Monday was followed by rain on Tuesday, but Rea took to the track on both days, steering his CBR1000RR for the first time since breaking his arm and wrist in a warm-up crash at Misano in June.

The 24-year-old Northern Irishman was able to give his injuries a thorough work out and he declared himself happy with the results.

"We didn't get to test very much today because of the weather, which restricted us to a patchy track this morning before it got wet again. But even those laps were useful to find a good wet setting which we have lacked this season," he said.

"Yesterday was really good, though, and I was so happy to get back on the bike again. The lap time was quite OK, which was a good confidence booster, and my wrist felt strong.

"My body certainly knows I've done a lot of riding, so I'll concentrate on some conditioning work over the next week or two. But I've really enjoyed riding again and now I can't wait for Nurburgring, which is somewhere I've had some success in the past."

But while Rea looks set to return to race action at the Nurburging on September 2-4, the situation isn't so clear for Xaus, who is still recovering from back injuries sustained in a race one crash at Brno in the Czech Republic last month.

The 32-year-old Spaniard was still suffering some discomfort from his back and was only able to ride in short bursts. Xaus opted to sit out day two due to the rain.

"It was good to ride again, and my speed and lap times yesterday were not bad considering that I was really only able to ride at 80%," said Xaus. "However, I could only do a few laps before my back became too uncomfortable to ride any more. I decided it would be too much to ride today as well and I don't think I would have learned any more because it was too wet. My injuries have improved but there is still some more improvement to find."

20-year-old Lowes - who replaced the injured Rea both at Brno and the last World Superbike round at Silverstone in the UK at the end of July - rode both days at Assen.

"To be honest, I was a little down when I left Silverstone because we struggled to find a setting there and the weekend ended in a crash," said the BSB rider. "I went out at Assen yesterday and we made a couple changes, which gave me a really good feeling again and I was immediately able to lap quite close to the times I set here when I tested after Brno. We did some more work in the wet as well today and I really feel comfortable on the bike now."

No lap times were released by the team.