Rossi's Assen renaissance

The headlines from Assen:
The Doctor’s back in town, as doctor helps Lorenzo… Espargaro pips Redding in thriller… Never-say-die victory for Salom

MotoGP: Lorenzo points, shoots and dominates, Pedrosa outlasts Marquez
1 Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 43m 06.479s
2 Marc Marquez (Honda), 1.763s down
3 Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha), 1.826s down

Fastest lap: Marquez (Honda), 1:42.552 = 165.9 km/h on lap three

An extraordinary race at The Cathedral -- not so much for the classic toe-to-toe racing, but the tale of two men from the Yamaha Factory Team: Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.

A weakened Lorenzo’s heroic effort to finish fifth just two days after breaking his left collarbone (Ed: making a mockery of our earlier prediction...) was one for the ages, while the crowd was left in raptures as Rossi produced his first MotoGP victory since Malaysia in 2010.

The Italian turned back the clock with a clinical performance, passing early leader Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) with 21 laps remaining and then remaining untroubled for the balance of the race as positions changed behind him. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) finished second from pole man Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3).

It was Rossi’s 106th grand prix victory across all classes, his 80th in MotoGP, and his eighth at Assen.

“I’m happy but I can’t believe it and it’s a great feeling to be back in first position,” said Rossi. “It’s been a long, long time since Sepang 2010 and during those years I’ve asked myself the question: ‘Can I get back to first position?’ So it’s been a tough period but I’ve never given up and I’ve always worked hard because this is my passion. I love to ride and race motorcycles.

“I have to thank Yamaha for giving me another chance with the M1 in the factory team. At the beginning I was not comfortable with the bike, I had to find the right balance, but coming into this race I knew I had better potential and before the race I thought, ‘I have to try to win -- this is my day’.”

Meanwhile, Lorenzo’s story was more a celebration of extreme grit and determination. When he returned to Assen late Friday with a titanium plate and eight screws holding his broken collarbone together and suggested he’d been keen to race, wise heads smirked and thought he was having a lend – until he completed 11 laps in warm-up and declared himself ready to go.

From the fourth row, Lorenzo quickly settled into fourth position, and at one stage it looked like he could be in a position to produce the unthinkable – a podium finish. But in his diluted state it was a bridge too far, with the fast-finishing Crutchlow shuffling him back to fifth with 11 laps to go.

But he leaves Assen with just 11pts separating him from championship leader Pedrosa, which would have been an unthinkable scenario when he crashed in the wet at over 200km/h just two days earlier.

“It would have been impossible to believe some minutes after my crash that this could happen,” Lorenzo said. “We were brave to do the operation the same day, (but) if I had waited until Friday the doctors would not have let me race.

“I felt quite good physically at the beginning of the race but after lap seven every lap was worse. “It was more difficult to change direction, to brake and to accelerate, so I couldn't do more than fifth position.”

Marquez produced yet another powerful rookie performance at Assen, and was in third until passing Pedrosa with about eight laps to go to move into second. Crutchlow also pushed back Pedrosa one spot two laps later, but try as he might the Briton couldn’t find a way past Marquez over the last few laps, and he cooked his goose by nearly running up the back of the young Spaniard at turn one on  the last lap.

“I think we touched, but I said to Marc that I wanted him to see after the race what Dani sees on TV,” Crutchlow joked after the race. “It was a difficult race again, but we are still in the same position: too little, too late. I felt we had the potential to challenge Valentino at the front today but I started too slow again and the first five laps I was wide in all the corners, but I’m very happy. We’ve had three podiums this early on in the season, it’s good for the championship and we are making good steps this year.”

Crutchlow remains in fourth place in the table, but Rossi is now only 2pts behind him now.

Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) was a lonely sixth from Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and red-hot CRT rider Aleix Espargaro (Power Electronics Aspar), while Australia’s Bryan Staring (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) was out of the points in 21st.

Moto2: Espargaro goes back-to-back
1 Pol Espargaro (Kalex), 41m 17.307
2 Scott Redding (Kalex), 0.117s down
3 Dominique Aegerter (Suter) 3.509s down

Fastest lap: Espargaro, 1:38.898 = 165.3km/h on lap 13

Pol Espargaro and championship leader Scott Redding produced a pulsating arm wrestle at Assen, with the Spaniard just holding off his British challenger by 0.117 seconds. The pair didn’t give an inch and quite rightly the fight for honours went down to the wire, with Espargaro making his final, decisive challenge at turn one on the 24th and final lap.

The top spot was his, but he still had to hold his nerve as Redding attacked at every opportunity but ultimately fell short.

After two DNFs in the opening four rounds, Espargaro has now well and truly wiped away his early season indifference with successive victories, although the consistent Redding still holds a 30pt advantage in the standings.

Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter added even more excitement into the race on when he took the lead on lap eight after Espargaro and Redding both went wide at turn one, but it was fleeting as he was quickly gobbled up again. After that, he had his hands full in the tussle for third, but did enough to hold off Mika Kallio (Kalex), Esteve Rabat (Kalex) and Johann Zarco (Suter). Zarco had started on the front row between polesitter Espargaro and Redding.

Australia’s Anthony West (Speed Up) logged his best result since round two with a great ride into 10th, after being inside the top 10 for most of the journey.

On a weekend full of dramas, the first retirement came before the race had even started as 2010 world champion Toni Elias crashed on the warm-up lap.

Moto3: Third in a row for Salom, Miller and Sissis seventh and eighth
1 Luis Salom (KTM), 38m 20.086s
2 Maverick Viñales (KTM) 0.122s down
3 Alex Rins (KTM), 0.282s down

Fastest lap Miguel Oliveira (record), 1:43.414 = 158.1km/h on lap 12

Does Luis Salom have a breaking point? Not at the moment, with the Spaniard’s combative, never-say-die attitude again on full display at Assen when he speared past compatriot Maverick Vinales on the final lap to bring up a third successive victory in Moto 3. Vinales was unable to make a counter challenge after Salom whistled past, but held on for second to continue his record of finishing on the podium in every race this year – alongside Salom.

Long-time leader Alex Rins was third ahead of polesitter Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra) and Alex Marquez (KTM). The last few laps were typically frenetic, with the final gap between the top five just 0.416 seconds.

Thirty-one of the 35 starters made the distance in the 22-lap, 100km race, with Australians Jack Miller (Honda) and Arthur Sissis (KTM) seventh and eighth as they spent the last half of the journey practically line astern -- and in their own private battle too, with no other riders in sight.

The pair both made brisk starts from the third (Sissis) and fifth (Miller) rows respectively, but started to drift back from the leaders after about six laps. Sissis also passed Miller under a yellow flag during the early stages and was forced to hand back the advantage by officials.

Miller remains 10th in the standings after Assen, while Sissis made a big leap from 14th to 11th.

For full results and standings in all three classes, visit www.motogp.com.

The next round will be held at Sachsenring, Germany from July 12-14.