Historical victory for the team Yakhnich Motorsport We are the first Russian team which won at the world stage!
SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Assen, Netherlands
3 round, 26-28 April, 2013
Assen met expectations completely and became an important reference point! Yakhnich Motorsport has already won the podium in Assen in 2012 and returned to win. And they did it with Sam Lowes.
This circuit means too much for the Russian team as right here started the international career of Nadia Yakhnich and Natalia Lubimova in 2008. They took part in the European Championship among women. Later, Vladimir Leonov went to this circuit on the Grand-Prix. Last year Vladimir Leonov arrived to Assen as a rider of Yakhnich Motorsport team and got the first russian podium place in the history of the World Championship. Today, on the third round of the World Supersport Russian team selebrated the debut win. It's a long awaited and deserved victory.
Sam Lowes started this race from the pole-position and controlled the situation till the end. The Raining Champion Kenan Sofuoglu led twice during the race but couldn't become the master of the situation as the British constantly tested him for the strength. Sam knew that this track is perfect for the Yamaha R6. He also realized that after Aragon neither he nor Sofouglu could make a mistake. Nevertheless, Sofouglu made mistakes in order to mislead his rival. On the 7th lap he passed Sam, but Lowes didn't fall for the trick and gave the possibility for Kenan to overtake.
The last lap was the most stressful. Sofouglu's proprietary method in Assen is overtaking on slip-stream in the end of the starting straight line. This time he made the attack later - on the short backyard straight.
Sam kept to be calm and waited for the most tricky combination of TT Circuit - the last chicane, where he overtake Kenan. Sam slightly slipped inside turning and the edge of the kerb and got the first position on the exit of the bend. In Assen Sam Lowes claimed the right for the champion title who belonged to Kenan Sofuoglu. After Assen the score of two top rivals is equal. The third place in that amazing race took Fabien Foret and he still keeps leader position. Michael Vd Mark got the 4th position.
Vladimir Leonov couldn't repeat his last year breakthrough because of the mistake of braking in turn and appearing in the depth of peloton though he had a good chance to fight for the TOP-5. Finally, he finished on the 12th position earning few important points to the team.
Sam Lowes: "I want to say thank you to Alexander Yakhnich and to the whole team for this fantastic bike that they gave me. We work consistently and become more fast and more stable. I'm sure that we can get more victories until the end of the season. I want to enjoy this victory with my team as we deserved it".
Vladimir Leonov: "I know that I've made a mistake that influenced the whole race. I've missed the braking point in the end of the first lap and needed to get to the safety zone and let other go before coming back. I've tried to recover the position and to finish on the one of top positions. Despite of the 12th this result brought me an important life experience".
The fourth round of the WSBK will take place at Italian Circuit Monza on 10-12 May.