After points’ leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) crashed out early in the race, defending champ Casey Stoner (Honda) took full advantage by winning the Assen MotoGP round yesterday and bringing himself into a tie in the championship points with Lorenzo. Finishing second was Stoner’s teammate Dani Pedrosa, while Andrea Dovizioso (Yamaha) won his duel with Ben Spies (Yamaha) to take the final step on the podium.
For additional details, points and results visit the official MotoGP website.
| Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
| 1 | 25 | 1 | Casey STONER | AUS | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 171.4 | 41’19.855 |
| 2 | 20 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 171.1 | +4.965 |
| 3 | 16 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 170.6 | +11.994 |
| 4 | 13 | 11 | Ben SPIES | USA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 170.4 | +14.775 |
| 5 | 11 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 169.9 | +22.074 |
| 6 | 10 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 169.3 | +31.660 |
| 7 | 9 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 167.4 | +59.107 |
| 8 | 8 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 167.1 | +1’04.441 |
| 9 | 7 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | ITA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | FTR | 166.9 | +1’06.980 |
| 10 | 6 | 54 | Mattia PASINI | ITA | Speed Master | ART | 165.7 | +1’25.087 |
| 11 | 5 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Came IodaRacing Project | Ioda | 165.3 | +1’32.103 |
| 12 | 4 | 22 | Ivan SILVA | SPA | Avintia Blusens | BQR | 165.2 | +1’33.797 |
| 13 | 3 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 163.6 | 1 Lap |
| 14 | 2 | 77 | James ELLISON | GBR | Paul Bird Motorsport | ART | 163.6 | 1 Lap |
I just now watched the Assen Moto 3 race on Speed Channel. If you have not been watching Moto 3, you have been missing out on some truly amazing racing. MUCH more entertaining than MotoGP. Assen was a real barn-burner of a race.
“After points leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) crashed out early in the race”
Guess that’s one way to look at it…. another is that Lorenzo was torpedoed by Bautista (in a very Simoncelli like move)and was taken out of the race. At any rate this certainly tightens up the points race for the championship. I’m beginning to think Pedrosa is not as good of a rider as Stoner lol. Nicky has sure been trying hard. Spies…c’mon man, you are supposed to beat the sattelite guys.
Since Spies was missing significant portions of his tires at the end of the race, I think its fair to.say the tires really screwed things up for him. He had the pace for podium easily earlier in the race. Dovi was no match for him. I wonder if anyone thinks the competition between tire manufacturers was worth it now that Bridgestone is blowing it big time.
I can only presume Spies’ team can pick tires with the same or better performance than anyone else on the grid, and if different from the Yamaha satellite team, Spies’ tires are better, not worse. Besides, saving tires isn’t a new concept for a guy with four lesser championships under his belt, is it?
Could’a, should’a, might’a, if only…
Unless the three guys on the podium cheated and got away with it, Spies’ end of race placement speaks for itself.
I’m guessing then, that a 9 time world champion with the greatest titles in the world doesnt know anything about tire management either, why would he otherwise have to pit for new tires in the first half of the race? This was simply a mess up in engineering by Bridgestone.
Well then, that’s settled. Spies and his boss at Yamaha agree Bridgestone removed Spies from the podium.
BTW, what’s the name of the Bridgestone representative who made this podium-depriving tire decision? Truly, I’m curious: Is it SOP for a tire company representative to over-rule a contrary decision by the Yamaha race team leader?
re: “Since Spies was missing significant portions of his tires at the end of the race, I think its fair to.say the tires really screwed things up for him.”
i think it’s fair to say tires have been screwing up things for him all season. it’s shame it finally takes the danger of physical CHUNKS missing for many to acknowledge what i’ve been saying since the beginning.
worst, even with this “smoking gun”, many STILL don’t acknowledge it…? that means a conscious decision is being made to COMPOUND what is an ALREADY dangerous situation. 🙁
Q: what rational person does that…?
A: none.
Thanks for the truth. Check Stoner’s comments as well as stories of Spies’ previous near disasters with failed tires in superbikeplanet.com with others that also agree. I agree with Stoner that lack of tire competition has made Bridgestone laxed. We need Michelin back, even if the tires didnt work.