Hannes Soomer (MPM WILSport Racedays) retired from the fourth WSSP round today in Assen due to a crash.

Frost covered the tarmac of the historic Assen race track in the race day morning. The cold weather made the tyre choice extremely difficult. In the warm-up the soft tyres that worked very well in the Superpole yesterday afternoon were not functioning as well, but the track was also several degrees colder. Soomer's warm-up time was 11th. The team still chose the softer tyre because the weather was warming up for the afternoon and the race proved the choice to be a correct one since the tyre lasted till the end.

Soomer lost his excellent 4th starting position, being 6th after the start and later losing some more positions. He started gaining positions after P11 and on the 11th lap he was in P8. „Now you only need to keep calm,“ the crew chief Andrea Ballerini tried to tell the rider on the track. Unfortunately it was not possible to maintain the position because 5 laps before the finish Soomer crashed in turn 16.

Soomer was first in the very technical Sector 1 of the track, but in the remainder of the secotrs his time was moderate. „I should be a second faster than the competitors to be able to pass them,“ said Soomer, but at the moment with the power that the engine has that speed is unattainable. „The crash was unforgivable and I am not at all satisfied with my performance,“ Soomer commented. „Everything else, the engine and the tyres we managed to get to work excellently and the team put in a huge effort. I am truly sorry that did not manage to finish it up with a result in the finish.“

„I am well aware that I need to finish races but it is very difficult for me to accept that although I am capable of fighting for the TOP 5 positions, I cannot do this with the tools that are available to me at the moment,“ said Soomer.