World Superbike 2008 - Round Four

World Superbike 2008 - Round Four - Assen

Supersport Race

Jonathan Rea scored the holeshot off the line from pole-man Broc Parkes. A cracking start to Joshua Brookes from the second row to push his Stiggy Honda up to fourth place in the opening lap and began battle with Andrew Pitt and Craig Jones.

Pitt looked to be on a mission and was quickly through to second place in a clean but forceful series of moves that made his contestants loo very ordinary indeed. In a matter of minutes Pitt was right on the tail of Rea and looking to challenge for the lead. The Australian obviously finding something in morning warm-up to make him competitive after a trying time during practice and qualifying that saw him languishing behind his lesser experienced teammate.

Lap three saw Pitt take the lead from Rea and two corners later Parkes pushed the Briton back to third to make it an Aussie 1-2 at the front of the field. The countrymen immediately began to trade places and their battle allowing their pursuers to inch even closer.

A Ten-Kate 1-2 was the form guide on lap four after Rea pushed Parkes back down to third place and into the clutches of Lascorz. A lap later Rea took the lead from Pitt and Lascorz pushed Parkes back down to fourth place.

Lascorz stuffed it under Pitt for second place on lap seven which allowed Rea to eke out a few bike lengths over a huge freight train of riders. Lascorz, Pitt, Parkes, Jones, Vizziello, Veneman, Brookes, Foret and Harms rounding out the pursuers inside the top ten but in face the top 16 were all tightly packed line astern.

Lascorz went through to the lead as the race passed the halfway point. Things still incredibly tight at the top in almost unprecedented fashion. After 50 tight and twisting kilometres the top dozen riders separated by nothing more than bike lengths.

With ten laps to run it was again Rea and Pitt leading the way from Lascorz. The top 15 covered by only five seconds.

With five laps to run Craig Jones declared his hand with a forceful move through to the lead from fourth position. Half a lap later the two Ten Kate men re-established the traditional order. Stiggy man Josh Brookes had decided to step his game up another level and quickly moved up to fourth place and began stalking the front runners in his quest for a podium finish. Those podium positions far from settled however with less than two seconds covering the entire top ten with four laps to go.

Three to go and Brookes was shuffled back two positions by the Parkes and Foret Yamaha pairing.

Lascorz split the Ten Kate pairing as they started the penultimate lap before making a small mistake that allowed Pitt to reclaim second place. The Honda triumvirate had started to inch away from their pursuers. Yamaha duo Foret and Parkes putting up the most resistance against the Honda horde but their efforts looked in vain against the might of the CBR600RR cavalcade.

A dramatic run to the line saw Pitt get the victory from Rea by a bee's dick. Lascorz third, Foret fourth, Parkes fifth and Brookes sixth with that top six covered by less than half a second. The top ten covered by only three seconds...

Race Results	Championship Standings
Pitt Rea 0.014 Lascorz Foret Parkes Brookes Veneman Vizziello Jones Lagrive Aitchison Walker Harms	Lascorz 70 Pitt 50 Parkes 49 Foret 46 Brookes 43 Rea 41 Jones 39 Harms 28 Vizziello 26 Lagrive 20