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NEWS
MotoGP preview: Assen
Back to ‘The Cathedral', which is the only venue that has hosted a GP every year since the motorcycle world championship started way back in 1949The MotoGP World Championship kicks off its European busy-season at Assen in the Netherlands this Saturday, as the grid prepares for three weekends of action-packed racing in a row.
Yamaha’s championship leader Jorge Lorenzo will have mixed memories from the Assen circuit, as last year he was taken out by the late Marco Simoncelli. Lorenzo did however manage to remount, and charge his way up into sixth.
This year, the Spaniard, who holds a 25pt lead in the championship, will be looking for a less eventful race to cement his place at the top of the standings. His win in Silverstone last time out put him equal with Australia’s Casey Stoner on 42 wins apiece in their GP careers.
Stoner, who struggled with tyre issues in Silverstone, will be hoping his team can help in him eradicate the chatter that has plagued him all season in a bid to claw back some points on his rival.
“We've had some great results in Assen, but also some pretty bad ones, so hopefully we can go there this weekend, be competitive and avoid any injury like last year when I hurt my neck, which followed us for the season and still causes me problems now,” said Stoner. “You spend a lot of the time on the edge of the tyre in Assen and unfortunately on our bike at the moment this is a weak point, so we will need to work on Thursday and Friday to improve before we can consider ourselves competitive there.
“I really hope the weather is good for us, as we need as much track time as possible to work on various issues on the bike. With three races back to back, it's important to get some good results at Assen, Sachsenring and Mugello, so we need to remain focused.”
Stoner’s teammate Dani Pedrosa, now only 14pts behind the Australian, missed last year’s round due to injury, but looked strong in Silverstone and will no doubt be looking to put himself in contention for a title shot.
Arguably the greatest talking point at present is Cal Crutchlow’s phenomenal effort at his home round, where he fought from the back of the grid with a fractured ankle to take sixth. While still suffering from the injury, the Yamaha-backed Brit has shown it hasn’t slowed him down, and he will be looking to extend his lead in the tight battle for fourth place. He will be challenged by teammate Andrea Dovizioso, who will look to make amends for his crash at the previous race.
Ducati factory pair Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden will both aim to bounce back after a less than ideal race in the UK. While Hayden showed outright pace, he will hope that his tyres can last the distance at Assen, while Rossi admitted that he struggled with the circuit. He has however confessed to being a big fan of the Dutch track and is hoping to regain some of the form that showed promise for the Italian outfit in Catalunya.
Álvaro Bautista will aim to continue his good run this season, which saw him take pole position at the last race and finish an equal premier-class best in fourth. Fellow Honda rider Stefan Bradl, who suffered a finger injury at the last race will be taking to the Assen circuit in a little less discomfort this time and will look to take another forward step in his Rookie season.
Lorenzo’s teammate Ben Spies, who currently lies 11th in the championship standings, had his best race weekend all season on the UK, and will undoubtedly be trying to rekindle some of the magic he found at Assen last year, where he took his first MotoGP victory.
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Written byBikesales Staff
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