Jonathan Rea claimed his first World Superbikes wins of the season with a devastating double victory in Assen, Netherlands, while Eugene Laverty was also impressive in his World Supersport win.
Rea headed the podium in both races in the Netherlands and in each race it was a British one-two-three, with the 23-year-old Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider delighting his Dutch team with stunning wins in both.
In race one, Rea was part of a group of seven riders in race one that broke away from the pack at the halfway point in an entertaining race highlighted by plenty of fast, close passing.
In the end it was a closely fought contest between Rea and fellow countrymen James Toseland and Leon Camier, with Rea edging out Toseland by just over a second and Camier finishing a close third.
The second race was a thrilling affair, with six manufacturers and eight different riders having the share at different times, but a late surge of pace from Rea was enough to hand him the win by almost two seconds from Leon Haslam and Toseland.
In the World Supersport championship, Eugene Laverty moved back into title contention with a superb victory at Assen.
The Irishman prevailed by almost three seconds ahead of championship leader Joan Lascorz and pre-race favourite Kenan Sofuoglu; the latter having dominated proceedings in both practice and qualifying.
However, while Sofuoglu got off to the best start from pole, brave moves by both Laverty and Lascorz on lap three changed things in their favour, as the Turk was unable to manouevre himself into a position to respond.
Instead, the battle for first place came down to Laverty and Lascorz, who produced an entertaining and fierce battle in dispute of the lead and the pair briefly made contact when they entered the final corner chicane on lap seven.
Laverty's victory was all but assured on lap 16, as Lascorz was forced to run wide on the first turn and the Spaniard lost several seconds in the process that he was unable to recover.
The win sees Laverty close the gap on Lascorz to 19 points in the battle for the title, ahead of the next race in Monza, Italy on May 9.
World Superbikes – Assen race one result
1) J Rea (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 35m 38.483s
2) J Toseland (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 +1.106s
3) L Camier (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. +1.249
4) C Checa (ESP) Ducati 1098R +1.548
5) T Corser (AUS) BMW S1000 RR +2.738
World Superbikes – Assen race two result
1) J Rea (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 35m 43.137s
2) L Haslam (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 +1.942s
3) J Toseland (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 +3.928
4) M Biaggi (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. +4.067
5) T Corser (AUS) BMW S1000 RR +4.176
World Supersport – Assen result
1) E Laverty (IRL) Honda CBR600RR 34m 45.753s
2) J Lascorz (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R +2.796s
3) K Sofuoglu (TUR) Honda CBR600RR +2.962
4) C Davies (GBR) Triumph Daytona 675 +23.040
5) M Lagrive (FRA) Triumph Daytona 675 +26.338
Find out more about Johnny Rea at jrea65.com and for more on Eugene, check out eugenelaverty.com
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