Supersport Assen: Race 1, Jaume Masia comes out on top in a wild brawl

At last, Supersport has rediscovered its old bite: a nonstop brawl from start to finish, with unleashed riders and a technical battle that’s on fire: Ducati, Yamaha, ZXMoto, Triumph, and Kawasaki are now fighting on equal terms. Don’t change a thing, because this way we’re having a blast!

Race 1 of the third World Championship round was decided on the final lap—actually, in the final half of it. Jaume Masia, who seemed to have been tamed by then, dived up the inside of Valentin Denise like there was no tomorrow in the fastest sweeper. Then, at the last chicane, he blasted past Alberto Arenas with a precise and ruthless late-brake move. His fourth world-class victory in this category was a fireworks display and the perfect strike to consolidate the World Championship lead.

Masia’s superb championship form is no surprise—he won the Moto3 World Championship in the past, and after last year’s excellent debut he probably would already have been ready to step up to the top class. Alberto Arenas comes from Moto2 and is confirming himself as the most solid bulwark of Yamaha’s mega squad. The one that keeps surprising is China’s ZXMoto. At the third world round, the Evan Bros-managed triple is no longer a surprise, but an increasingly solid force in this championship. Valentin Debise fought for the win at Assen as well, after cashing in at Portimão. In the end, after the carousel, he even lost the podium, demoted to fourth for a track limits overstep at the final corner.

Lucas Mahias launched his attack in qualifying; at the very end he had closed in to deliver the killer blow, but in the general chaos of the last two corners he found himself fifth: the Frenchman can’t wait for Sunday to get his revenge. A positive note of the day is Kawasaki’s decisive step forward, with Dominique Aegerter very close to the podium. The start of the season had been quite worrying, but it was obvious that the factory 632 run by the Puccetti team would come good sooner or later. Now the little green machine is in the mix too, spicing things up.

Can Oncu took the start with the Ten Kate Yamaha in a striking yellow livery to celebrate 25 years of the glorious Dutch outfit. But after his usual swashbuckling start, the Turkish talent was shoved off track in the chicane by the charging Booth-Amos, slipping back to a tenth place that leaves a lot on the table. The penalty handed to the Triumph rider from Britain felt a bit soft: “give back one position” seemed a bit light in this situation. In fact, he got it back in a flash.... Oncu also finished behind the excellent Alessandro Zaccone, a rock-solid eighth. In the rematch, he can aim for something even better.