Red Bull Rookies/Assen: Victory for Benat Fernandez, bad luck for Fynn Kratochwil

In the first race late on Saturday afternoon, with temperatures at an almost pleasant 31 degrees, Carlos Cano was crowned the winner. The 15-year-old Spaniard stood at the top of the podium in the Red Bull Rookies Cup for the first time. Germany’s Fynn Kratochwil, who had to manage without his team manager Dirk Heidolf this weekend as he was ill, crossed the line less than half a second behind the winner, but was penalised by the race stewards with a long lap for his occasionally overly aggressive riding style; given the late stage of the race, this was converted into a three-second penalty.

On Sunday morning, the rookies lined up for the second and final race of the Assen weekend. It had rained heavily overnight and parts of the track had not quite dried out by the time the teenagers got underway, making the early morning race a tricky affair. The riders started the race on slicks. Japan’s Ryota Ogiwara stormed to the front from fifth on the grid. After the initial scramble, Fynn Kratochwil emerged in tenth place on the leaderboard, placing him right in the thick of the leading group.

Benat Fernandez gewinnt

Foto: Thomas Seidenglanz

The current Cup leader, Benat Fernandez, was right in the thick of it, as was Saturday’s winner, Cano. Among the chasing pack, things were as frantic as ever, with positions changing constantly. Cano held his own at the front, but only briefly; David Gonzalez then took the lead, only to reappear in eighth place just two corners and a body check later. Kratochwil was still in the mix, sitting 15th at the back of the group.

Cano, Mounsey, Fernandez, Bujosa and the American Daniel set the pace at the front shortly before the halfway mark. But that was by no means set in stone. Kratochwil, too, had worked his way back up to eleventh place. With six laps to go, Ogiwara crashed out of the race and suddenly the new leader was Travis Borg, who had started from 24th – and thus last – place. But he, too, was unable to hold on to the lead for long and suddenly found himself in seventh, one place behind the resurgent Kratochwil.

Fifteen riders battled for victory in the final laps, and right up until the very last metres, it was unclear who would win the race. None of them made it. There was a crash in the melee, and it caught Kratochwil, who had been innocently pushed off the track by David da Costa as the latter attempted to pass Kratochwil on the inside. Neither of them crossed the finish line.

On the penultimate lap, Daniel sent his KTM into the dirt after making contact with a fellow rider’s rear wheel. It was utter chaos on the final lap. Borg was leading going into the final chicane, but came out of it in third place. Benat Fernandez took the win, further extending his lead in the championship. Second place went to David Gonzalez.

Letzte Tipps für Kratochwil von Alzamora

Foto: Thomas Seidenglanz