Race 2

A great ride from Rea saw him overcome the pain of a hand injury suffered earlier in the day to win his first race of the year, at his team’s home track. He also scored the first win for Honda in 2012. Race one winner Guintoli was second after his teammate Jakub Smrz dropped back from his long-time lead after choosing a wet front tire. Smrz eventually crashed while trying to pass a lapped rider. The battle for third went to Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing), his first podium of 2012. An all BMW battle right behind saw Melandri beat Haslam (the latter regretting using a front wet tire) over the line by only 0.002 seconds. Checa gambled on rain tires but as the track dried and the rain stayed away, he had to come into change his wheels and he ended up 17th - just out of the points.

Jonathan Rea: “It’s a great result for me, my team and bike. A big thanks to all the guys back in Nieuwleusen for their continued hard work. I have to get my finger stitched up right now after my race 1 crash, I’ve been using local anaesthetic for this race, but on a more serious note this win is also just to let Joan Lascorz know that we’re all thinking of you.”

Sylvain Guintoli: “For sure it’s a great weekend for us, again we started well. I thought I had the double, it was going well and I could control the gap. Then Johnny had a little extra and I was struggling and couldn’t follow. It feels really good and I think I could get used to these results!”

Eugene Laverty: “That was good to get on the podium, and a bit of a bonus because I thought I was in fourth position and somebody dropped out of the top three. It’s something to build on for the future, it’s been a tough start to the year. We worked hard this weekend, with limited dry track time we made good progress from race 1 to race 2 so I’m happy”.

Results: 1. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 36'45.936; 2. Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 2.819; 3. Laverty E. (IRL) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 12.638; 4. Melandri M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 12.762; 5. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 12.764; 6. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 20.393; 7. Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 36.317; 8. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 37.747; 9. Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 41.350; 10. Fabrizio M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 43.930; 11. Hopkins J. (USA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 57.515; 12. Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'32.593; 13. Aoyama H. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'33.576; 14. Camier L. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000; 15. Mercado L. (ARG) Kawasaki ZX-10R; 16. Aitchison M. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR; etc.

Points (after 3 of 14 rounds): 1. Biaggi 92; 2. Checa 91; 3. Sykes 79; 4. Guintoli 66; 5. Melandri 66; 6. Rea 65; 7. Haslam 58; 8. Laverty 56; 9. Smrz 39; 10. Giugliano 37; etc. Manufacturers: 1. Ducati 136; 2. Aprilia 100; 3. BMW 86; 4. Kawasaki 85; 5. Honda 69; 6. Suzuki 20.