The podium finish for Suzuki Castrol, Kawasaki Bolliger and Kawasaki Diablo at the Assen 500 round of the FIM World Endurance Championship last weekend grabbed all the headlines, but further down the results the racing was just as - if not more - intense.

Close Finish

Fourth placed Yamaha Phase One held off a charging Yamaha Austria No.7 by only 38 seconds, and the battle for sixth place between Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se, Yamaha Shell Endurance Academy, Yamaha X-One, Kawasaki RMT21 and Suzuki Nederland was covered by less than a minute after three and a half hours of racing. Suzuki No Limits & RT held off Yamaha Power Bike to take eleventh place, and Suzuki Bridgestone Bikers Profi 47 beat Suzuki Austria 76 by seven seconds to take fourteenth place.

Suzuki Innodrom, Suzuki Fabi Corse, MV Agusta Burger King Lust and Suzuki Eurosport Benelux were also locked in a fight for 17th place which went down to the line with only 14 seconds covering the four bikes, and Yamaha Maco Moto squeezed home in 21st place by a mere eight seconds.

Six Manufacturers, Eight Nations

Motorcycles from six manufacturers finished the Assen 500km race. Suzuki won the race, with two other GSX-R1000s finishing in the top ten. Four Yamaha YZF-R1s also made the top ten, but perhaps the biggest surprise of the year was the three Kawasakis in the top ten, two of them on the podium. The best results for Kawasaki in 2004 were Bolliger's fourth and fifth places at Zhuhai and Albacete. MV Agusta finished in 19th place, Ducati Team Spring were 25th and Projecteam Honda Endurance's CBR1000RR was 27th. Aprilia was the only manufacturer entered which failed to record a finish.

Teams representing eight nations scored points at the Assen 500, with their riders coming from a total of fourteen countries.

Next Stop: Albacete

The next round of the FIM World Endurance Championship is the Albacete 8 Hours night race on May the 21st.

1st April