Bagger World Cup in Assen: Oscar Gutierrez wins Sunday’s race

Following the action in MotoGP, which saw Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) claim his maiden victory, there was one final highlight of the race weekend in store at the TT Circuit in Assen: Race 6 of the season in the Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup and the second race of the Assen weekend.

On Saturday, Eric Granado had secured pole position, his maiden victory and, at the same time, the overall lead in the Harley Manufacturers’ Cup. Accordingly, he started the weekend’s second race (also over nine laps) from first on the grid.

In the overall standings, Archie McDonald was nine points behind Granado going into the second race. Oscar Gutierrez was two points behind McDonald and eleven behind Granado. Joining Granado on the front row were former MotoGP and Superbike rider Andrea Iannone and Oscar Gutierrez. MotoE champion Jordi Torres, who was celebrating his debut weekend at Assen, started the race in fourth place.

For Saturday’s winner Granado, the race on the 200 PS Harley-Davidsons got off to a disappointing start: the Brazilian dropped from first to fifth place. Oscar Gutierrez capitalised on this, becoming the new leader and heading the field of ten Harleys.

Lap by lap, Eric Granado fought his way back up the field, overtaking first Archie McDonald, then Jordi Torres. By lap 4, he was already in third place. Andrea Iannone stoically held on to second place.

As the race progressed, overtaking manoeuvres were few and far between. From lap 4 onwards, there wasn’t a single one. With gaps of over a second between the frontrunners and even wider gaps further back in the field, the Spaniard Gutierrez cruised safely to victory. Gutierrez, Iannone and Granado thus took the podium. Granado remains top of the overall standings with 111 points.

The Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup has now reached the halfway point: six races are done, six remain. Following Assen, Silverstone, Aragon and Spielberg are on the schedule for the coming weeks.