Written by:
SPEED Staff
SPEEDtv.com
Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) was Honda’s top finisher in today’s Dutch MotoGP race, taking a hard-fought seventh-place finish after Repsol Honda teammates Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso crashed out in separate incidents. Watched by the biggest Assen crowd in years, the race was won by reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) who scored a dominant victory, his 100th in Grand Prix competition, over teammate Jorge Lorenzo.
Today’s 250 race was won by Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Honda) after a thrilling duel with title rival Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) ended on the penultimate lap when Bautista rammed Aoyama and fell. The Japanese rider’s second victory of the year moved him back into the World Championship lead with seven rounds done.
Pedrosa had high hopes of scoring a podium finish in the MotoGP race after he had qualified second fastest, just 0.085 seconds off pole position. And the Spaniard was looking good in the early stages, contesting third place with Lorenzo. But on lap five Pedrosa lost the front at the first turn and slid off. Despite the tumble, which left him uninjured, Pedrosa believes that his team has taken a step forward with machine performance and is looking forward to the next races.
Teammate Dovizioso took over fourth place after fighting his way through from seventh after a so-so start. The Italian was confident of another strong result but he ran out of luck on lap 11 when he slid off at turn one. He too walked away unhurt.
While Rossi ran away with the race the interest settled on a frantic seven-man battle for sixth place, featuring de Puniet, Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini), James Toseland (Yamaha), Nick Hayden (Ducati), Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) and Mika Kallio (Ducati). Positions within the group changed constantly as the seven men fought for position through the challenging twists and turns of Assen, MotoGP’s most historic racetrack. There was little doubt that the finishing order would only be finalised during a last-lap sort-out and that is exactly what happened. Kallio crashed at the high-speed Hoge Heide section just a few hundred meters from the finish, then Elias and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) ran off the track at the final chicane, Elias crossing the line in eighth place, just meters ahead of Hayden and Capirossi. Elias had made an impressive charge through the pack, from 13th on lap four, but was penalized 20 seconds for his last-lap indiscretion at the chicane which put him in 12th place.
De Puniet had good reason to be satisfied with his seventh-place finish, especially since he might have finished higher up the order if he hadn’t been hit by both two rivals during the race.
De Angelis spent much of the 26 laps in the group battling for sixth, happy with recent improvements made to his RCV, but in the latter stages he lost some front grip and slipped back to a lonely tenth place. Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda), who broke a finger and hurt his back at Catalunya two weeks ago, took the last World Championship point in 15th place. Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda) finished 16th in his second MotoGP race.
