Lorenzo continues sublime form at Assen

The 80th anniversary of the Dutch TT saw another textbook ride from Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo, as he won his fourth MotoGP race of the year ahead of compatriot Dani Pedrosa (Honda) and Australia's Casey Stoner (Ducati Team).

The result extended Lorenzo's lead at the top of the championship to 47pts, with Pedrosa moving into second ahead of team-mate Andrea Dovizioso.

"This race was a bit more difficult than Silverstone because Dani was so fast with the softer tyre early on in the race and I had to really keep my concentration to stay in front of him at that point," said Lorenzo.

"I was confident that my harder Bridgestone tyre would help me later on and this was the case, so we made the right choice. It wasn't easy though and at the end I was sliding quite a lot, in fact I made a mistake at the chicane and nearly crashed so I was quite glad to finish!

"I am really happy that I have won here in all three classes because it's such a historic place and the football I had in Parc Ferme was to celebrate this 'hat-trick.'

"Now we go to my home in Barcelona and I am excited about another chance to race in front of the Spanish fans."

Major benefits were gained from good starts by Ben Spies (Yamaha) and Pedrosa as both rose four places from their grid positions to slot into second and third place, as Lorenzo led the field into turn one from pole position.

Lorenzo started to open up a very early lead and for the first couple of laps it looked like the Spaniard would race clear as he did at Silverstone, but Pedrosa and Stoner both passed Spies on lap three and tried to keep the leader in check.

Dovizioso had passed Spies as well to move into fourth, and by the midway point of the race he was a second ahead of the American, who in turn led sixth placed Randy de Puniet (Honda) by just over 1.5secs.

By this stage Stoner was looking for a way through on Pedrosa but could not find one, and Lorenzo started to again edge away, extending his advantage little by little as the laps flew by. Further back Spies closed right up on Dovizioso and passed the Italian to move into fourth, and De Puniet was then on the trail as well as the trio remained closely grouped.

At the front Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner became further separated from one another, while De Puniet and Dovizioso fought intensely to the last lap as the Frenchman experienced a few moments as his tyres started to feel the strain.

Lorenzo eventually crossed the line 2.935secs ahead of Pedrosa, with Stoner taking his first podium of the season in third. Spies finished fourth in another impressive display from the rookie, with Dovizioso edging out De Puniet for fifth with another overtake on the chicane just before the finish line.

"Everybody has done a fantastic job with the bike and for the last two weekends we have had a bike capable of winning the race, but I have made some mistakes," said Stoner.

"I'm pretty happy with the way everything was working this weekend and of course to be standing on the podium. We should have been here a couple of times already this season but I suppose we have to be happy with where we have got, and that we can take some points back on second place in the championship."

Nicky Hayden (Ducati), Colin Edwards (Yamaha), Marco Simoncelli (Honda Gresini) and Aleix Espargaró (Ducati) all took top 10 finishes. Marco Melandri (Honda) was absent from the race after he dislocated his left shoulder in the second free practice session on Friday.

Australia's Anthony West (MZ) failed to finish the Moto2 race, won by Andrea Iannone (Speed Up) from Moriwaki punters Toni Elias and Thomas Luthi. Elias leads the championship by 24pts from Japan's Shoya Tomizawa (Suter).

The next round is in Barcelona from July 2-4.

Click on the following link for full results and current standings in all three classes.