Michael van der Mark heads into his home race in Assen this weekend with his sights set firmly on securing his first podium finishes of the season. The Pata Yamaha WorldSBK rider came close in Thailand with a trio of fourth place finishes, but the podium has so far remained elusive, a situation that van der Mark is keen to rectify in front of his passionate and vocal home crowd in Assen this weekend. On form Alex Lowes arrives in Assen with exactly the same goal as his Pata Yamaha teammate and, with four podium finishes to his name already this season, confident that he can take the fight to his rivals at a track on which he has amassed a lot of previous experience.