Jonathan Rea hopped on the Honda CBR1000RR for the first time since he broke his arm at Misano this weekend with a two-day testing session at Assen. Ruben Xaus, who is also recovering from injuries, also put in a few laps during the testing session.
"Yesterday was really good. I was so happy to get back on the bike again," Rea said. "The lap time was quite OK, which was a good confidence booster, and my wrist felt strong. My body certainly knows I haven't done a lot of riding, so I'll concentrate on some conditioning work over the next week or two. But I've really enjoyed riding again and now I can't wait for Nurburgring, which is somewhere I've had some success in the past."
Xaus tried to do as many laps as possible, but pain in his back prevented him from doing too much work. Xaus put in some track time during the first day, but decided to sit out on the second day.
"It was good to ride again, and my speed and lap times yesterday were not bad considering that I was really only able to ride at 80%," Xaus said. "However, I could only do a few laps before my back became too uncomfortable to ride any more. I decided it would be too much to ride today as well and I don't think I would have learned any more because it was too wet. My injuries have improved but there is still some more improvement to find."
Alex Lowes, who replaced Rea at BRNO and Silverstone was also on hand during the testing session.
"To be honest, I was a little down when I left Silverstone because we struggled to find a setting there and the weekend ended in a crash," Lowes said. "I went out at Assen yesterday and we made a couple changes, which gave me a really good feeling again and I was immediately able to lap quite close to the times I set here when I tested after Brno. We did some more work in the wet as well today and I really feel comfortable on the bike now."
