The second round of the 2016 WIL Sport European Junior Cup, powered by Honda, will get underway tomorrow at the TT Circuit Assen in The Netherlands. Last year, the 10-lap race around the 4.542km track was won by Champion-to-be Javier Orellana. Now a rookie in the FIM Europe Supersport Cup, Orellana edged current STK1000 debutant Emanuele Pusceddu by 0.277secs at the line.

After taking his maiden EJC win in the opening encounter of 2016, Kenan Sofuoglu’s protégé Harun Cabuk (KNN54–TMF) enters the Assen event as Championship leader. He will have a target on his back, though, as last-race podium finishers Mika Perez (Granshagen Racing Team) and Paolo Grassia (Chiodo moto Racing), along with other fast contenders in Spain’s Giuseppe De Gruttola (SK-Racing Team) and Estonia’s Hannes Soomer (Auto24Ring), will be looking to challenge the young Turk for honours.

With such a competitive line-up for the year and with identical Honda CBR650F machines at every rider’s disposal, many other competitors are expected to be racing at the front this weekend, too.

Reigning title holder Avalon Biddle (Avalon Biddle Racing) is still the pace-setter in the Women’s European Cup, as the New Zealander was the highest-positioned female rider at the end of the Aragón race.

Gerry Bryce, series director

It has been a busy couple of weeks for all riders, first with the training camp at Calafat, then with the Aragón race and now Assen. The first race went extremely well and looks like the championship race will once again be a close one. There are four or five riders who will challenge for the win this Sunday and I’m confident that, after the technical issues he encountered in Spain, Giuseppe De Gruttola will be able to be back at the sharp end of the field. So we just need to hope that the weather stays dry for what will be another successful and safe weekend of EJC racing.