Foret and Parkes come close

From Yamaha Racing

Fabien Foret and Broc Parkes, both from the Yamaha World Supersport Team, were tantalisingly close to a podium finish apiece at Assen on Sunday after a classic high-speed multi-rider battle for the win, which finally went to Andrew Pitt.

Foret was only 0.201 seconds from victory itself, in fourth place after 21 laps. He had fought through from a bad start, completing the first lap down in 13th place.

"I had another bad start and my fault, I don't know why," Foret said. "I had to push very hard and that made the tires wear more. I don't think I found the perfect machine settings, and I am not sure if I made the right choice of front tire. It may have been better with the other one I considered today, but it is always easy to speak about what could have been after the race."

Parkes finished only 0.283 seconds from the win and his fifth place means that both riders scored good points in the championship chase, after starting from the front row of the race.

Parkes had to ride with a fractured left hand, after a Friday practice crash, and battled manfully in the first few places for almost the entire race, even after losing power from his left hand as the race progressed.

"It was chaos out there today and everyone just wanted to go at each other," Parkes said. "At one stage, lap 10 maybe, I felt not too bad then after that my hand just started to get more and painful and once the tires started to go I couldn't move around like I wanted to, I just had to sit on and ride it. Even with a painkiller you just can't use your hand properly when it's injured. The worst parts were during braking. I just couldn't do what I wanted to."

In the championship Parkes is third on 49 points, Foret is fourth on 46 points, with leader Joan Lascorz on 70, after taking third place Sunday.

Results
1. Andrew Pitt (Honda) AUS 36:10.751
2. Jonathan Rea (Honda) GBR +0.014
3. Joan Lascorz (Honda) ESP +0.150
4. Fabien Foret (Yamaha) FRA +0.201
5. Broc Parkes (Yamaha) AUS +0.283
6. Joshua Brookes (Honda) AUS +0.447
7. Barry Veneman (Suzuki) NED +2.050
8. Gianluca Vizziello (Honda) ITA +2.346
9. Craig Jones (Honda) GBR +2.714
10. Matthieu Lagrive (Honda) +3.073
11. Mark Aitchinson (Triumph) AUS +4.070
12. Chris Walker (Kawasaki) GBR +4.863
13. Robbin Harms (Honda) DNK +5.088
14. Ivan Clementi (Triumph) ITA +16.644
15. Ilario Dionisi (Triumph) ITA +21.630
Best Lap
Gianluca Vizziello 1:42.130

Rider Standings
1. Joan Lascorz (Honda) 70
2. Andrew Pitt (Honda) 50
3. Broc Parkes (Yamaha) 49
4. Fabien Foret (Yamaha) 46
5. Joshua Brookes (Honda) 43
6. Jonathan Rea (Honda) 41
7. Craig Jones (Honda) 39
8. Robbin Harms (Honda) 28
9. Gianluca Vizziello (Honda) 26
10. Matthieu Lagrive (Honda) 20
11. Chris Walker (Kawasaki) 20
12. Barry Veneman (Suzuki) 19
13. Gianluca Nannelli (Honda) 17
14. Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha) 16
15. Mark Aitchinson (Triumph) 15