MotoGP Rnd 7
Valentino Rossi won his 100th Grand Prix, took his second triumph in succession and became the undisputed leader of the FIM MotoGP World Championship with a stellar performance at the Alice TT Assen.
A vintage Rossi performance was celebrated with his unraveling a backdrop and posing for a classic photo with antiquated cameras, the Italian’s latest post-race show with his faithful fan club.
Teammate Jorge Lorenzo was once again forced to settle for second place, his third on the bounce. The Spaniard got off to a bad start from third on the grid and, although he was able to fight back up to the front, could not provide Rossi with the same challenge that he had done last time out.
Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner completed the podium with a solitary ride chasing Lorenzo. The Australian now trails Rossi and his Spanish rival in the overall standings after the trio had been level on points heading in to the Assen race.
Colin Edwards equaled his best result of the year with fourth place, at the head of an enthralling battle between the ‘best of the rest’. Rizla Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen and Edwards’ Monster Yamaha Tech 3 teammate James Toseland were also in the top six with their best finishes of the season to date.
Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso had been in with a shout at the rostrum, but both took tumbles before the race took its full shape. There was also a late fall for Pramac Racing’s Mika Kallio when the Finn was challenging for sixth on the final lap.
The next round of the FIM World Championship for the MotoGP class takes place in Laguna Seca, USA, next week, whilst the lower cylinder categories will skip the round and return at the German race later in July.
MotoGP Rnd 6 – Race Result | MotoGP Rnd 6 – Championship Standings |
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— MotoGP Quotes
Valentino Rossi, 1st – “This is a very emotional moment and for sure I will remember this 100th victory for the rest of my life. When I reached 70, 100 seemed a long way away but here I am and it has been great, great fun getting here. It is down to so many people, like Jeremy and my guys who have been with me for ten years and all of the team who always give 100% and always give me the best bike possible. Especially however I have to thank the friends who have been with me my whole life and my father Graziano, who won here in Assen 30 years ago when I was a baby, and my mother Stefania, because they have always supported me. It’s great to reach this moment here at Assen because it’s the ‘Cathedral’ of motorcycle racing and the most historic track we go to. Today was a perfect race – I got a great start and my bike was incredible which meant that my pace was very strong. In fact I think it was better for everyone’s hearts not to have another last-lap battle like in Barcelona! I had a good advantage from Lorenzo in some parts of the track and it was a great ride for me. Now I have 100 wins and I’m only the second rider to arrive at this number, but Agostini still has 22 more and for me he is still the greatest. 100 is a great result but the atmosphere in our team is wonderful and the motivation is still as high as ever – we want to win a few more races together yet!” Loris Capirossi, 2nd – “First of all I have to say congratulations to Valentino because this is an incredible thing to achieve and this day belongs to him. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good start today and I had to take a few risks to pass people and come back to the front. Once I did I tried to go after Valentino but in some places I just wasn’t as fast as him; he was riding 36.5s every time and I didn’t really have quite enough confidence to push that hard today because the bike didn’t feel perfect. As the race went on I started to feel the front tyre ‘close’ a bit and I decided that it was safer to come home in second! Another podium is a great result; it’s my fiftieth and we continue to be very strong this season so I am happy. I am only five points from the lead and we are in a good position going to Laguna, which I am very excited about.” Casey Stoner, 3rd – “I’ve been feeling fine all week but started to feel run down again on Friday and I’ve just got worse as the weekend has gone on. I’ve taken every kind of supplement and vitamin tablet you can think of but nothing seems to have worked, so it is obviously something we need to have looked at closer because I can’t keep going like this and it is costing us points. Thankfully I had a fantastic bike underneath me again today and I owe the team for that. A big thank also to Dott. Macchiagodena and our physiotherapist Freddie (Dente), who took good care of me both in Catalunya and here. Unfortunately we don’t have much time to get fit for Laguna but we’ll see what we can do.” Colin Edwards, 4th – “Finally I got a decent start and the longer wheelbase bike helped me get off the line. When Dovizioso came by I was biting my teeth to stay with him and keep the pressure on. But then I saw Dovizioso crash in front of me and just before that I’d had a moment with the right side of the front. I’d done 32-laps on that tyre yesterday but coming in and out of the pits all of the time it’s hard to get an accurate assessment of what’s going to happen. I just held station after that because I could see I wasn’t catching (Casey) Stoner and I was holding Vermeulen off comfortably. My target was just to ride without making any mistakes and keep the momentum going. I rode my hardest but this year in MotoGP it is so hard just to get a podium. The field is so strong now and it’s the hardest year I’ve ever had in MotoGP. I’ve ridden nowhere near as hard as that in the past and been on the podium. But I’m close to fourth in the championship and I was only beaten by the three fastest guys in the world today, so I’m happy with the job I’m doing. I can’t wait for Laguna now and hopefully I’ll be able to go better and get a podium for Monster, Tech 3 and all the American fans.” Chris Vermeulen, 5th – “I’m obviously happy because this is my best result of the year and we have shown that we have made a step with the bike after the Barcelona test – especially on the chassis side of things. At this track – and the next couple that we are going to – it is not so important on the motor front, so the slight speed disadvantage that we have is not so bad and we can still be competitive. I got a good start to the race and got in with the front guys early on. I tried as hard as I could to stay with them, but didn’t quite have the lap-times to hang in there. I kept pushing all race and when Colin came past I tried to hang on to him, but he seemed to have a bit more rear grip than me. Most of the race after that was pretty boring as I was on my own. I’m happy with fifth and it gives us some valuable points in the championship and a good result to take forward into Laguna Seca.” James Toseland, 6th – “I was a bit nervous on the start because I’d no experience with a new clutch set-up we were running. The crash in the warm-up meant I didn’t try it before the race, but I did a pretty good start but still lost three or four places. I knew I’d got a pretty good race set-up so just tried to stay calm and in the first couple of laps I took advantage of that to get into the top ten. It was an incredible battle for most of the race and I knew I wasn’t much stronger than the rest and I knew if I got to the front that it wasn’t going to be a case of me pulling away. I knew once I was at the front of the bunch that it would be a case of protecting it. That’s exactly what I did but it was nearly all spoiled on the last lap. I was getting ready to pass Mika at the last corner when Elias came under me at Turn 10. That let Loris through too and I’d gone from sixth to ninth! It was so chaotic I didn’t even see Kallio crash and I thought when Elias dived under Loris at the last chic ane that they might run off. Fortunately for me they did and I took advantage of it, and leading that group for so long I think I deserved sixth. It has been great to work with Mr Nakajima and I feel quite privileged to have his help and it just shows that I’m still on Yamaha’s thoughts and they want me to get up to speed.” Randy De Puniet, 7th – “That was a thrilling and stressful race. My grid position did not help; I got a bad start but after the first corner I overtook a few riders and I was up to ninth by the end of the first lap. After that I caught a group of riders with faster engines and I could not pass them. Suddenly Toseland passed me after the back straight but he was on the limit and hit my machine. once again I had to push to catch the group and then Elias came past and hit me at turn three. However, I stayed focused and when Capirossi and Elias made a mistake in the last corner I was ready to take the chance to pass them. After a difficult time in qualifying we deserve this seventh place. My crew made a very good job on the electronics between the warm-up and the race.” Nicky Hayden, 8th – “When you start from 13th you are always going to have a lot of work to do but that was the best bike I’ve had underneath me all season so I want to say a huge ‘thank you’ to the team for that, they have worked so hard. I got a great start and was able to lead the second group for a while until a couple of guys came past and I lost my rhythm a bit. I made a little mistake under braking on the back straight, ran wide and lost a lot of time but I fought back and got in with the group again. I was having great fun but unfortunately the left handlebar came kind of loose about halfway through the race and cost me a lot of time – that’s when a lot of the guys got past me. I know I’m coming out with a lot of excuses this year but a loose handlebar at that speed is pretty scary! The guys are looking at how it happened. Anyway, man it was a hard battle. I know we were only fighting for fifth or sixth but it felt like there was a title on the line out there! Big respect to everybody in the group though. Elias made a big mistake but everybody left it all out on the track today and we all shook hands afterwards. It was good to be a part of the battle.” Loris Capirossi, 9th – “It was not a good result today and it began with a bad start by me, it made it very difficult all race because it is not very easy to overtake here. When I was pushed wide I was really disappointed because it meant I had to start all over again and chase the other guys to get past. I got past three riders on the last lap and I was just behind Kallio on the last few corners and then he crashed, so I was sixth. I thought that would be not too bad, but on the last corner Elias tried to overtake me and put me out and that was it, it was is all over. I am upset because I really think if I had got a good start today I would have had a good race and we’d have been competitive, but it’s finished now and we have to move on.” Alex De Angelis, 10th – “From the first lap to about three quarter distance it was a good race for me, fighting in a group for seventh place. We’ve been working hard to find rear traction recently and made some progress at the Barcelona test that has helped us here and I think we have gathered more interesting data to help us move forward. Unfortunately it was the front tyre that we struggled with today. From about halfway through it was pretty worn and the front was folding on me more and more. I almost crashed on a few occasions so decided it was best to back off and settle for the position I was in. It is not exactly where we want to be but I think we are getting closer and I’m excited about taking this progress to America.” Toni Elias, 12th – “I’m happy because it looks like little by little we’re making progress. The problem here was that I qualified badly yesterday, I got a bad start today and a lost so much time at the start of the race fight with Sete [Gibernau], Talmacsi, Takahashi and Canepa. It was only three laps but it felt like a lifetime! Once I got free of them I was able to keep passing riders until there were three seconds of clear track in front of me to the second group, which I was able to close down. There were some really hard riders in that group and it was a lot of fun. I want to publicly apologise to Capirossi though because I was very late into the last chicane and ran us both off track. I feel bad for him but I just had to give it everything I had today. Race direction have decided to penalise me for it, which I have to accept, but the most important thing about today was the performance and not the result.” Yuki Takahashi, 15th – “I did not have had a perfect start. Moreover, in the very first part of the race I almost collided with another rider and was forced to take a wide line which lost me time. Mid-race, my back began to ache and then lap by lap I lost sensitivity in the finger I broke in Barcelona. I wanted to finish at any cost. I did it, and I’m satisfied. But not happy: I can do better, and I’ll do so in the next races.” Andrea Dovizioso, DNF, said: “At the beginning the race was going well and I was lapping with a fast pace – the same as in the practice sessions. Fourth place was looking on the cards and I believe that would have been an achievable and a reasonable result for us this weekend, so I’m very disappointed about the crash at Turn 1. I had a good start but I was trapped by a bunch of riders and it took me a few laps to get by them. Once I was past I was feeling quite comfortable, although I wasn’t sure I could catch Stoner. Then, while I was in the middle of the corner at the maximum lean I lost the front. I wasn’t on the brakes when it happened – we have to lean a long way over in the middle of the turn and that’s when it caught me out. The next race is only a week away so we have to put this result behind us and focus on Laguna. It’s a track I like and, in spite of today’s result, I’m confident when can get a good result there.” Dani Pedrosa, DNF – said: “The good news is that I didn’t hurt myself in the fall and, considering my recent run of luck with injuries, this is a big relief. But of course I’m disappointed with the result today because, even though it’s unlikely I could have won the race, I was feeling strong on the bike again and believe I could have made the podium. My feeling on the machine this weekend has been much better and I have been able to ride close to my maximum potential, so I was quite confident coming into this race. I made a fast start and found a good rhythm, so the crash was very unexpected – for the whole weekend I had no warning this might happen. Now we have to forget this race and remain positive and focused because we have been the best in the past and I believe we can be the best again. The whole team deserves better than this and I know we will work even harder to take the fight to our rivals, even though they are very strong. Laguna is the next race and we will go there with the same positive mood that we brought to Assen this weekend.” — Bridgestone Report – Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear: Soft, Medium From his second pole position start of the season, Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi dominated the seventh round of the MotoGP championship in Assen. Using medium compound front and rear Bridgestone slicks, the Italian controlled the pace throughout, setting a new race lap record en route to clinching his 100th grand prix victory and taking the lead of the world championship. Also using the medium compound slicks, Jorge Lorenzo finished second to take second position in the championship, and Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner finished a lonely third, still suffering from the illness he experienced in Catalunya. The top three are still only separated by nine points. The competitive action however focused on a great race-long battle for sixth place. James Toseland, Mika Kallio, Nicky Hayden, Randy de Puniet, Toni Elias and Loris Capirossi were split by less than one second for most of the race, trading positions almost every lap. Of this group, only Kallio and Elias opted for Bridgestone’s soft compound rear slicks but were able to match the race pace of the medium compound runners, demonstrating the cross-over between Bridgestone’s compound options. Despite the threat of rain intensifying in the morning and forecasts predicting a wet track, both the warm-up session and the 26-lap race were run in the dry. As predicted, and with a track temperature slightly higher than for yesterday’s qualifying session, the most popular tyre combination was the medium compound front and rear Bridgestone slicks, favoured for their durability. Hiroshi Yasukawa – Director – Bridgestone Corporation “I wish to congratulate Valentino for his fantastic result and reaching his 100th grand prix victory this weekend, especially as it has taken him into the lead of the world championship. I would also like to wish Casey a fast recovery from his illness, and hope that he is back on top form by Laguna next weekend. I am very pleased that with every rider now on Bridgestone tyres, we are seeing some very close competition this season which is excellent for the sport and for the spectators.” Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development “Although the gaps at the front were quite big today, the pace that Valentino set was faster than the circuit’s lap record from last year, and Jorge also lapped at the same pace as the existing record, so I am happy with the performance of the medium compound Bridgestone slicks today. We saw that the medium compound was clearly the faster option over a race distance, although the performance of the soft compound was also good. The close battle for sixth position that lasted until the chequered flag showed that our tyres had good durability and consistency for the race distance, even the softer option.” — 250cc Race Hiroshi Aoyama claimed his second win of the 2009 season in the 250cc race, taking the leadership of the World Championship as a consequence. The Scot Racing rider’s immediate rival, Álvaro Bautista, had looked to be on course to push Aoyama to the line as the duo broke free and dashed for the chequered flag. However, Mapfre Aspar rider Bautista smashed into the back of Aoyama’s Honda on the fast chicane, ending the Spaniard’s race and leaving the race winner lucky to stay upright. Bautista´s late retirement meant that the battle behind him became one for the runner-up spot, with poleman Héctor Barberá eventually getting the better of reigning World Champion Marco Simoncelli. Mattia Pasini and Thomas Luthi ended their hopes of catching up with the leaders when they collided midway through the race, Pasini losing his fourth position in the overall classification with a third DNF of the year. Metis Gilera rider Simoncelli now assumes the place as he attempts to remount his title challenge. — 125cc Race A three-way battle at the front of the 125cc contest saw the order of the podium positions decided on the very last lap, with Sergio Gadea earning his first win of 2009. The Spaniard emerged victorious ahead of fellow countrymen Nico Terol and Julián Simón in a dry race that went down to the wire, saw Terol penalised twenty seconds and left Simón at the head of the overall classification. The trio had battled against one another since just past the halfway mark in Assen, when third row starter Gadea joined up with the two leaders and mounted his own attempt at victory. With neither rider able to get away, a waiting game took place until the final lap, when Terol made a move that did not pay off and ran along the asphalt run-off strip. He caught up with Gadea on the home straight, but the Bancaja Aspar rider had enough of an advantage to take the win. The move was the subject of an enquiry by Race Direction, and the decision was made to relegate Terol to fifth place despite his having stepped onto the rostrum. After taking the holeshot, British rider Bradley Smith lost ground on the leaders and became embroiled in a dogfight with title rival Andrea Iannone. Smith eventually bested the Ongetta Team I.S.P.A rider by five-hundredths of a second, in a move that gave him a belated podium behind teammates Gadea and Simón. |
250cc Race Result | 250cc Championship Standings |
1 / Hiroshi AOYAMA / JPN / Scot Racing Team 250cc / HONDA / 40’44.008 / 161.027 / 2 / Hector BARBERA / SPA / Pepe World Team / APRILIA / 40’48.432 / 160.736 / 4.424 3 / Marco SIMONCELLI / ITA / Metis Gilera / GILERA / 40’54.347 / 160.348 / 10.339 4 / Aleix ESPARGARO / SPA / Balatonring Team / APRILIA / 40’55.391 / 160.280 / 11.383 5 / Roberto LOCATELLI / ITA / Metis Gilera / GILERA / 40’55.604 / 160.266 / 11.596 6 / Alex DEBON / SPA / Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens / APRILIA / 40’58.273 / 160.092 / 14.265 7 / Karel ABRAHAM / CZE / Cardion AB Motoracing / APRILIA / 41’01.990 / 159.851 / 17.982 8 / Hector FAUBEL / SPA / Valencia CF – Honda SAG / HONDA / 41’03.020 / 159.784 / 19.012 9 / Ratthapark WILAIROT / THA / Thai Honda PTT SAG / HONDA / 41’04.934 / 159.660 / 20.926 10 / Raffaele DE ROSA / ITA / Scot Racing Team 250cc / HONDA / 41’05.041 / 159.653 / 21.033 11 / Mike DI MEGLIO / FRA / Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc / APRILIA / 41’16.136 / 158.937 / 32.128 12 / Lukas PESEK / CZE / Auto Kelly – CP / APRILIA / 41’25.337 / 158.349 / 41.329 13 / Alex BALDOLINI / ITA / WTR San Marino Team / APRILIA / 41’49.329 / 156.835 / 1’05.321 14 / Valentin DEBISE / FRA / CIP Moto – GP250 / HONDA / 41’56.459 / 156.391 / 1’12.451 15 / Imre TOTH / HUN / Team Toth Aprilia / APRILIA / 40’52.181 / 153.803 / 1 lap
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1 AOYAMA 121, 2 BAUTISTA 108, 3 BARBERA 95, 4 SIMONCELLI 77, 5 PASINI 64, 6 LUTHI 52, 7 DE ROSA 51, 8 FAUBEL 49, 9 LOCATELLI 47, 10 DEBON 43, 11 WILAIROT 38, 12 CLUZEL 33, 13 DI MEGLIO 32, 14 PESEK 32, 15 ABRAHAM 31.
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125cc Race Result | 125cc Championship Standings |
1 / Sergio GADEA / SPA / Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc / APRILIA / 39’07.577 / 153.671 / 2 / Julian SIMON / SPA / Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc / APRILIA / 39’08.478 / 153.612 / 0.901 3 / Bradley SMITH / GBR / Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc / APRILIA / 39’19.933 / 152.867 / 12.356 4 / Andrea IANNONE / ITA / Ongetta Team I.S.P.A. / APRILIA / 39’19.977 / 152.864 / 12.400 5 / Nicolas TEROL / SPA / Jack & Jones Team / APRILIA / 39’27.655 / 153.666 / 20.078 6 / Stefan BRADL / GER / Viessmann Kiefer Racing / APRILIA / 39’28.045 / 152.343 / 20.468 7 / Jonas FOLGER / GER / Ongetta Team I.S.P.A. / APRILIA / 39’28.332 / 152.324 / 20.755 8 / Simone CORSI / ITA / Fontana Racing / APRILIA / 39’28.840 / 152.292 / 21.263 9 / Pol ESPARGARO / SPA / Derbi Racing Team / DERBI / 39’29.135 / 152.273 / 21.558 10 / Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Red Bull KTM Moto Sport / KTM / 39’29.518 / 152.248 / 21.941 11 / Joan OLIVE / SPA / Derbi Racing Team / DERBI / 39’31.182 / 152.141 / 23.605 12 / Efren VAZQUEZ / SPA / Derbi Racing Team / DERBI / 39’35.983 / 151.834 / 28.406 13 / Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Ajo Interwetten / DERBI / 40’07.889 / 149.822 / 1’00.312 14 / Marvin FRITZ / GER / LHF-Project Racing / HONDA / 40’07.932 / 149.819 / 1’00.355 15 / Lorenzo ZANETTI / ITA / Ongetta Team I.S.P.A. / APRILIA / 40’08.192 / 149.803 / 1’00.615 |
1 SIMON 100, 2 SMITH 95.5, 3 GADEA 84, 4 IANNONE 82.5, 5 TEROL 77.5, 6 MARQUEZ 55, 7 FOLGER 54, 8 ESPARGARO 51.5, 9 CORTESE 45, 10 BRADL 44, 11 AEGERTER 29.5, 12 REDDING 28.5, 13 VAZQUEZ 23, 14 OLIVE 21, 15 RABAT 19 |
Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup
A seven man battle for the lead for most of the 16 laps made it the race of the day at the Dutch Grand Prix and all the sweeter for Sturla Fagerhaug who took his 3rd Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup victory of the year. The 17 year old Norwegian finally managed to open an advantage but it was still 4 men fighting for the other podium places at the last corner with Daijiro Hiura coming out ahead of Jake Gagne, Florian Marino and Jakub Kornfeil.
“That was a great race,” said a sweaty Fagerhaug as he took his helmet off. “At least I didn’t make a mess of the start this time and I managed to get to the front quite early. Then I made a few mistakes and some others got past. I settled down and started to put in some good laps to try and get away but they stayed with me.”
“I really didn’t want it to come down to a big fight at the last corner, at least I just wanted to be fighting with only one other rider if I couldn’t get away completely. We were doing quite good lap times but there are three straights so if the others work on the slipstream it is easier for them to stay with you. I just kept pushing as hard as I could and finally I did get away. So then I just had to be smooth and not make any mistakes.”
Even when Fagerhaug did eventually make the break it was all thrills behind and one of the leading lights was Danny Kent who managed to repeatedly out manoeuvre the other Rookies with a daring inside pass at the Strubben, the corner onto the back straight. “It’s something that James Toseland told me and it really worked. I could pass the guys inside, then get back across as far as possible so it didn’t spoil the drive onto the straight. Sometimes I lost a little on the drive, sometimes not but it really helped me get past,” said the 15 year old Englishman.
“I wanted to get after Sturla so when I got into second I put my head down and pushed as hard as I could, I thought I could catch him. but then on the brakes the front folded under and I crashed,” concluded Kent.
When Kent fell on lap 14 the last chance of catching Fagerhaug went with him. Marino, Hiura, Gagne and Kornfeil continued the fight for the podium having dropped 15 year old Swede Alex Kristiansson who had been part of the lead battle early on.
Gagne, the 15 year old Californian was impressive in his first race at Assen. “I love the track, I was really enjoying myself, things were sliding around quite a bit towards the end but we were all having fun. I didn’t want to leave it to a big out-braking effort at the last corner so I tried to get away but they past me out the back on the last lap and it was all on into the last corner.”
Coming into the chicane it was Marino who had second but it wasn’t to be the Frenchman’s day to go to the podium. “I so wanted to walk up those steps, I pushed and pushed all race,” said the 16 year old. “Coming down to the last corner I was in front and I knew I had to be late but hold the line. As I braked and turned-in the front wheel tucked under, I had to let it go and I just ran a little wide, that was it, the others got through.”
“I still haven’t got to the podium but that was a great race, all the guys were riding hard and well, not messing each other up as at the earlier races, it was just great, it was Grand Prix racing,” concluded Marino with a smile despite his deep disappointment.
Hiura’s second was well deserved as he did not make such a great start from 8th on the grid and completed the first lap in the same position. He was soon on the move though and became one of the strongest in the 7 man battle. “That was great fun, a very good race,” said the 14 year old Japanese with his characteristic grin. “I pushed as hard as I could then Sturla got away from us but I knew we were fighting for the podium. We were all pushing hard into the last corner then Marino went on the grass and I got through.”