Two podiums for Dessoy at Assen
Following his win at Thruxton last week Harrison Dessoy with the Louth based PHR Performance by Peter Hickman Sportbike team made his International debut at Assen in the Netherlands for a round of the IDM Sportbike championship where he bagged a couple of podium finishes on the PHR Performance Triumph Daytona 660.
Having never seen the circuit before Dessoy spent free practice learning his way around the circuit before setting the fifth fastest lap in qualifying to start the first race from the middle of the second row.
As the lights went out he got a clean start and was up to third place on the opening lap. The top three riders broke away at the front and were circulating within 0.3s of each other and by lap six Dessoy took the lead from Kas Beekmans. But Beekmans was on his home circuit and was soon back in front with Dessoy second and Inigo Iglesias Bravo tagging on in third place.
On the final lap Beekmans had the lead with Dessoy in his tyre tracks but he ran wide at the chicane which allowed Bravo to nip past and claim second place with Dessoy finishing in third position.
Dessoy said: “It was a really good race, I have never been here before and my first time on track was Friday. So to come to Kas’ back yard and be fighting for the win I did ok.”
The weather played its part in the second race on Sunday. There had been a short shower of rain which left the track damp in places. Everyone went for slicks as it was drying fast with Dessoy starting from the middle of the front row. He made a good start and took the lead at turn two but Beekmans fought back was in the lead by the end of the opening lap. The top four riders were all together and pulled clear of the following pack. Dessoy was soon challenging for the lead but on lap five the rain returned causing the red flag to halt the race.
The shower soon passed and although the race was declared wet, slicks were the order of the day at the restart. It was to be a five lap dash to decide the outcome with Beekmans and Dessoy once again breaking away from the pack to fight it out for the win. The pair exchanged places throughout the five laps but it was Beekmans who took the win by the narrowest of margins, just five thousandths of a second ahead of Dessoy at the flag.
Dessoy commented: “We did a good job again today this time taking second place. I would just like to say a big thank you to my PHR Performance lads who always work so hard and gave me a brilliant bike today. I was unfortunate to miss out on the win today. I tried to get the undercut at the last chicane but just couldn't manage it. But I am really pleased to have secured two podiums on my first visit here.”