Stoner victorious at Assen

Australia’s Casey Stoner took victory at an incident-packed Iveco TT Assen on June 30 from Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa and Yamaha’s Andrea Dovizioso.

The race started in high drama as Álvaro Bautista (Honda) took out championship leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in the first corner, putting an end to both their challenges. Lorenzo was clearly upset about the incident, while Race Direction slapped a penalty on Bautista – he will now start from last on the grid in the next round at Sachsenring on July 8.

After the early drama, Pedrosa and Stoner were left to lead the race at the start, with Lorenzo’s teammate Ben Spies in pursuit.

Two laps in it was heartbreak for LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl as he crashed out of fourth, making this the first race he has not finished in his rookie season. In the meantime, Nicky Hayden (Ducati) had run into the gravel in the last corner, but managed to wrestle his bike back on track.

With 19 laps to go Dovizioso went past Spies into third as the pair diced for the final podium position. Dovizioso’s teammate Cal Crutchlow, who was ninth after taking avoiding action at the start was having a tricky time trying to pass the Ducatis of Hayden, Valentino Rossi and Héctor Barberá.

With 14 laps to go, Crutchlow had passed Barberá into seventh in the group fighting it out for fifth, while Spies had made a move on Dovizioso back into third. A few laps later Crutchlow’s charge continued as he passed Rossi into sixth to hunt down Hayden, who he also passed some laps later.

Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró retired from the race with 11 laps remaining, putting a dent in his top CRT hopes. This was followed up a lap later with Rossi entering the pits with a chunk missing from his rear tyre, which was changed before he re-entered the race. Meanwhile, at the front Stoner made his move on Pedrosa as the Spaniard looked to be struggling.

With six laps remaining both Hondas looked to be slowing, yet had pulled out a seven-second lead over Spies, who was lapping a second a lap quicker. Further back, Barberá saved a near crash as he diced with Hayden for sixth.

Three laps before the end Dovizioso had caught up to Spies once more as the pair was involved in yet another tussle for the final podium spot. The Italian made his move going into turn one on the final lap, and held on until the line.

In the end it was Stoner who took the chequered flag to go equal on points at the top of the championship with Lorenzo, as Pedrosa finished second and Dovizioso took yet another podium this year.

“To take pole position and now the win is really incredible, a big thanks to my whole team who never gave up. My plan was to get a better start than I actually did, take some advantage and use the energy I had to try and make a gap and try to hold on to the end,” said Stoner.

“We also knew that whichever position we were in, we had to preserve the rear tyre. With a few laps remaining, I knew we wouldn't suffer a big drop in tyre performance, I still felt good so I decided to pass him and see if I could pull a gap. It was a tough race, I had a lot of arm pump as I had to compensate for my injuries from the crash yesterday, but my fitness was good and the bike was working well in general.

“I'm sorry for Jorge, nobody wants to take points over a competitor in this manner, but as we can see, one race can change everything.”

The top three were followed by Spies, Crutchlow, Hayden, and Barberá, whilst the CRT contingent benefited from the numerous crashes, with Espargaró’s teammate De Puniet taking eighth.

In Moto2, Australia’s Anthony West (Moriwaki) was 21st, and in Moto3 Adelaide’s Arthur Sissis (KTM) was 16th – but only 12 seconds behind the winner.

For full results and standings, visit www.motogp.com/en/Results+Statistics.