Rea takes Assen win as Davies suffers cruel DNF
Click here for full WorldSBK race one results at Assen
Jonathan Rea has clinched his sixth race win from seven races in the 2017 World Superbike championship and avoided a last-lap duel with Chaz Davies after his Aruba.it Racing Ducati suffered a mechanical issue on the penultimate lap at Assen.
Rea, who was relegated to row two from pole position after picking up a penalty with for blocking Davies in qualifying, slotted in behind the Welsh rider after the opening lap tussles and never let his title rival create a gap over the middle third of the race.
With late race pace being key to victory between Rea and Davies, the two-time World Superbike champion made a telling move at the start of the penultimate lap as Davies ran wide around turn three and four.
Davies looked set to bite back on the final lap but heading through the chicane to start the last lap his Aruba.it Racing Ducati suffered a terminal technical fault and stopped on the start/finish straight.
Davies' stop allowed Rea to escape to victory and extend his championship lead to 59 points with Tom Sykes in second and Marco Melandri picking up an unlikely podium albeit 17 seconds off the pace.
Xavi Fores grabbed an impressive fourth place on the Barni Ducati ahead of Milwaukee Aprilia of Lorenzo Savadori, while Stefan Bradl produced an outstanding charge through the field from 16th on the grid to give the Ten Kate Racing-run Red Bull Honda team something to smile about at its home event.
It was a disastrous race for Pata Yamaha after both Michael van der Mark and Alex Lowes crashed out, with the Dutch star being forced off track into the first corner after being sandwiched between Lowes and Nicky Hayden before falling on lap five, while Lowes tipped off from a promising sixth place with a handful of laps remaining.
Roman Ramos got the better of a last-lap fight to take seventh ahead of Eugene Laverty and Leandro Mercado, as Leon Camier completed the top ten finishes.
