Dominique Aegerter completed a perfect FIM Supersport World Championship weekend in the Ten Kate Yamaha WorldSSP Supported Team’s home round at Assen, taking pole position, fastest lap, and a pair of stunning victories to extend his championship lead to 44 points.
Running a special yellow and black livery to celebrate the team’s early successes, Aegerter took his second consecutive WorldSSP pole position on Saturday. The Swiss rider initially dropped back early on in Race 1, but fought through to the lead and despite his rivals running close behind for most of the 18-lap race, he remained calm, looked after his tyres and was able to pull a gap in the final three laps for victory.
In Race 2, the former Moto2 rider once again had to settle in behind the leader, after losing the position on lap one. Aegerter closed back up and overtook Philipp Öttl’s Kawasaki at Turn 9 on lap five, and after that he continued to pull away from the chasing pack. By the end of the race, the championship leader was a massive 7.6 seconds ahead, crossing the line for his fifth consecutive win.
From sixth on the grid, GMT94 Yamaha WorldSSP Supported Team’s Jules Cluzel battled hard amongst the top five in both races. The French rider took fourth in Saturday’s race, with a final lap move on ParkinGO Yamaha’s Manuel Gonzalez, and matched that result in Race 2 following a titanic battle with several riders for the final spot on the podium, just losing out to the EAB Racing Team Yamaha of Randy Krummenacher.
Evan Bros Yamaha WorldSSP Supported Team’s Steven Odendaal was best of the rest behind Aegerter in the opening race, finishing over six seconds ahead of third from second on the grid. In Race 2 however, the South African fell on lap nine while fighting for another podium, recovering from 20th to finish 13th at the chequered flag.
Having qualified fourth, Spanish rider Gonzalez was locked in the close battle just outside the podium places in both races, eventually taking home a pair of sixth-place results with the ParkinGO Yamaha squad.
bLU cRU graduate Luca Bernardi was disappointed to qualify ninth, and was handed a long lap penalty for an incident in the first race, which saw him drop to 12th at the finish. The Italian rider made a big step forward on Sunday, and battled to a fifth-place result, having crossed the line ahead of Cluzel in fourth prior to a track limits penalty.
GMT94 Yamaha’s Federico Caricasulo was eighth in the opening race at the Dutch circuit, but was involved in an unfortunate first lap incident on Sunday, forcing him out of the race. Kallio Racing Yamaha WorldSSP Supported Team’s Vertti Takala bounced back from his DNF in Race 1 to take his best result so far with 10th in Race 2.
On his first weekend with the Evan Bros Yamaha team, Péter Sebestyén scored points in both races, finishing just outside the top 10 in 11th on Saturday and 12th in Race 2. Ten Kate Yamaha’s Galang Hendra Pratama was 14th in Race 1, but fell at the first corner in the second, while Biblion Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSSP Supported Team’s Maria Herrera failed to score points in either race.
Dominique Aegerter: P1 & P1
Ten Kate Yamaha WorldSSP Supported Team
“Perfect event here at Assen, the home race of my Ten Kate Yamaha team. We took the pole position, then the fastest lap and race win yesterday, and the same again today, so I don’t think it could have gone much better. It’s perfect to show our potential, especially with this special livery, and it was great to have the crowd and our sponsors here to enjoy a bit of history together. In the first five laps we had a great battle, but I knew I had more speed, so I just took the lead and continued to improve my pace. I built a gap of over five seconds, but the last few laps were a little bit difficult because it was hard to keep the speed without the pressure behind pushing me on. To leave here with 44 points ahead in the championship is nice, so for sure we will all celebrate this together.”
