Riding after recent forearm surgery Can started Race Two from eighth place on the grid but like all his peers he soon had to take stock of increasingly heavy rains which had arrived just as the race had been declared dry. Like all his rivals, Can was running a dry tyre choice on his Ninja ZX-6R when the race began.

He had been second on lap one but as the rains increased he was 11th on lap two, then 18th on lap three. He stopped to fit rain tyres in the early stages of the 18-lap contest and held his eventual tenth place finishing for the final three laps.

After one of the riders who finished ahead of Can in the final Assen race was disqualified he was promoted to ninth on the day.

Can is now 13th in the overall championship fight, with 22 points - the same total as the rider officially classified as 12th.

Can Öncü, stated: “The race start was quite good but when the rain came we just dropped back and back, which is obviously not what we wanted. We have to work more and improve more. I hope it will get better soon and we are now looking forward to Misano and the team’s home race in June.”

Gabriele Giannini (Prodina Kawasaki) scored one point in Race Two finishing 15th, after the disqualification of a higher-placed rival.

Hikari Okubo (Vince 64 Kawasaki) placed 17th in the dry-then-wet second race while Marcel Brenner (Viamo Racing Kawasaki) was 19th. Brenner is 27th overall, with three championship points scored so far.

After the end of the Assen weekend there will be a long break until the fourth round of the championship, which takes place at the Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’ in Italy, between 14-16 June.

                                                 #NinjaSpirit