The eve of the Assen round has already given us the first twist of the year: Loris Cresson and the Pedercini team have separated with immediate effect and the Belgian will not be at the starting line of the Dutch appointment. The farewell between the two was anything but peaceful, but Lucio Pedercini’s team immediately ran for cover to be able to play the weekend in the “Cathedral”. Leon Haslam will replace Cresson.
The independent team headed by Kawasaki has thus focused on the veteran, who had already planned four wild cards this year in Superbike on the ZX-10RR, but who anticipates his return to the world championship this weekend. In fact, in Assen we will find Pocket Rocket, now in force at BSB, but returning to the world championship for the already announced rounds of Misano, Donington Park, Most and Portimao. Added to these is the Dutch weekend, in which he will take part as a substitute.
It is not yet clear who will be the rider who will compete in the remaining races, but at the moment the Pedercini team is relying on Haslam, who has already raced with the team in 2016 in Lusail and certainly has not pulled back: “I have good memories of Assen over the years, so when the opportunity arose to race with Team Pedercini in one more race it was easy to say yes. I’ve raced with this team in the past and got a fifth place in Qatar, I know how they work. It will be difficult to get straight to the second round without testing on the bike and with such a strong championship this year, but knowing that we will race together in four more rounds after this one, I am confident that we can get a lot of valuable information and have a positive weekend together. ” .
Lucio Pedercini is also confident, after Cresson’s farewell: “It is an unexpected first appearance as a wildcard. Leon will now compete in at least five races for us this season. We’re sorry we weren’t able to continue with our original 2022 plan, but the show needs to go on and we’re delighted to welcome Leon back to the team sooner than we anticipated. We enter the weekend confident of achieving three solid results ”.
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