Dutch double for Scott Redding at Assen

Tommy Bridewell started Race 2 in pole, but it was Buildbase Suzuki’s Luke Stapleford who initially led the race before Scott Redding momentarily swapped positions.

At the end of Lap 3 a moment at the chicane for Stapleford ended up costing Scott Redding some time, with Josh Brookes and Tommy Bridewell both capitalising to pass the Be Wiser Ducati rider.

But it wasn’t long before Redding started to make his move back up to the front. On Lap 6 he passed Bridwell for 3rd before making a move on Stapleford for 2nd on the next lap. Redding then got the better of teammate and race leader Brookes on Lap 10, before racing his way towards the chequered flag and his 2nd win of the day.

Bridewell put his Race 1 crash behind him to finish 2nd, holding off FS-3 Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan in the final laps, with Brookes finishing his race just behind in 4th.

Redding’s double win see him leaving Assen back at the top of the championship with 595 points. Brookes sits 2nd with 581 points and Bridewell 3rd with 544 points.

Scott Redding (Be Wiser Ducati #45) - 1st
“Doing the double was great. I lived in Holland for a year and half, so I have a lot of friends, a lot of fans and people I class as family here. This is like another home race for me. There was a lot of pressure on me to win by a comfortable gap. After signing the contract for World Superbikes next year, a lot of people use this track to see if I have the potential. I put my head down and showed that. It’s not about winning by miles, it’s about doing a clever race. I’m still learning so much about these bikes and tyres, so I need to do it a step at a time, race by race. 

Race 2 then when Luke came past, he was holding me up, but he was also unpassable because he was squeezing on the gas so hard. I had to sit there and wait a little bit, hope not to get beat up too much by guys behind. And then when I felt it was my time to go, I picked the guys off, got my head down and just kept getting that little bit more, little bit more. I felt more comfortable at the front and it’s great to come away with two victories here at Assen.

I know when I go back to a track this year a second time, I can ride much more relaxed and even faster. We’ll see when we get to Donington how the bike plays out and try to get some more wins.”

Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Racing Ducati #46) – 2nd
“It was hard work for definite. Coming from a crash always knocks your confidence a little bit. And then I was looking at my lap-times thinking why are we so slow? The track was so greasy compared to Race 1, so everyone was getting effected. I could see on my pit board that I wasn’t able to shake Danny. It sounds bad to say perhaps I thought I could do, but it just goes to show that the field is quite even. It was a good full battle. The last lap I had nothing left and I just had to defend it. Credit to my Oxford Racing Ducati team, they’ve done a phenomenal job. My bike was absolutely mega. Just got to bounce back now, anything can happen. I feel good and ready for Donington.”

Josh Brookes (Be Wiser Ducati #25) – 3rd
“The weekend started out very difficult. What we thought was arriving with a good set-up which worked at the previous tracks, didn’t immediately work here. We didn’t have any of the information from World Superbikes to know what they were running so we just had to work and chip away throughout the weekend. The biggest disappointment was that the bike wasn’t immediately good, we had to work so hard, so long for me to get comfortable on the machine that we were already behind the ball. I tried really hard, I felt like I rode good races but it was too little too late. I have a lot of disappointment at the moment and I am sure everybody can understand why, but we will just have to carry on and try again at the next one.”

Race 1 report: Be Wiser Ducati finish 1-2 with Scott Redding taking his 8th win of the British Superbike season