FIM MotoGP World Championship Assen, Netherlands June 26, 2010 Race Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (Yamaha), 26 laps, 41:18.629 2. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (Honda), -2.935 seconds 3. Casey STONER, Australia (Ducati), -7.022 4. Ben SPIES, USA (Yamaha), -13.265 5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (Honda), -15.323 6. Randy DE PUNIET, France (Honda), -15.772 7. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (Ducati), -25.867 8. Colin EDWARDS, USA (Yamaha), -28.991 9. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (Honda), -35.658 10. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (Ducati), -35.837 11. Mika KALLIO, Finland (Ducati), -56.769 12. Hector BARBERA, Spain (Ducati), -56.890 13. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (Suzuki), -60.615 14. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (Suzuki), -68.074 15. Kousuke AKIYOSHI, Japan (Honda), -1 lap 16. Marco MELANDRI (Honda), DNS World Championship Standings (after 6 of 18 races): 1. Lorenzo, 140 points 2. Pedrosa, 93 3. Dovizioso, 89 4. TIE, Valentino Rossi/Hayden, 61 6. De Puniet, 56 7. Stoner, 51 8. Spies, 49 9. Simoncelli, 39 10. Edwards, 34 11. Melandri, 32 12. TIE, Espargaro/Barbera, 28 14. Kallio, 20 15. Hiroshi Aoyama, 18 16. Capirossi, 16 17. Bautista, 14 18. Akiyoshi, 1 More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO EXTENDS CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD WITH AWESOME ASSEN WIN Jorge Lorenzo put in another textbook performance at Assen today, leaving his rivals trailing as he led from the front to win the 80th Dutch TT and take his fourth victory of the season. In doing so he becomes only the seventh rider in history to have won in three or more classes at the historic racetrack, with 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP wins to his name. Meanwhile Tech 3 Yamaha rider Ben Spies ensured that there were still two Yamahas in the top four, despite the absence of Valentino Rossi, with another brilliant performance to back up his maiden podium last week. Mallorcan Lorenzo had looked the man to beat all weekend after topping both practice and qualifying and he got a great start from pole position and quickly pulled out a second’s gap, but by lap five Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner were looming large behind him and for a few laps it looked as if a tense three-way battle was in the offing. However Lorenzo’s choice of the harder Bridgestone tyre soon began to pay off and, with a lighter fuel load by mid-race distance, he was able to step things up a notch and gave himself an unassailable lead, crossing the line 2.935 seconds ahead of Pedrosa, with Stoner third and Spies fourth. The Fiat Yamaha man’s second win on the bounce sees him extend his championship lead to an impressive 47 points from Pedrosa, while Rossi remains fourth in the standings. The next round comes in just a week’s time at Barcelona in Spain, when Wataru Yoshikawa will join the Fiat Yamaha Team to fill in until Rossi is back on board his M1. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 1st Time: 41’18.629 “This race was a bit more difficult than Silverstone because Dani was so fast with the softer tyre early on in the race and I had to really keep my concentration to stay in front of him at that point. I was confident that my harder Bridgestone tyre would help me later on and this was the case, so we made the right choice. It wasn’t easy though and at the end I was sliding quite a lot, in fact I made a mistake at the chicane and nearly crashed so I was quite glad to finish! I am really happy that I have won here in all three classes because it’s such a historic place and the football I had in Parc Ferme was to celebrate this ‘hat-trick.’ Thanks to all my Yamaha guys and also to Bridgestone for this win, we have a big lead in the championship so we can afford to stay calm and relaxed. Now we go to my home in Barcelo na and I am excited about another chance to race in front of the Spanish fans.” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “We knew before the start that Pedrosa and Stoner had chosen the softer tyre so we expected them to be fast at the beginning and in fact we were quite pleasantly surprised that Jorge was able to make a gap so early on. Then they came back to him but he is mentally very strong at the moment and he just kept his head and did very well to stay in front, because they were pushing him hard for a while. Once the laps went on and our fuel load was reduced, Jorge was able to use the harder tyre to his advantage and he succeeded brilliantly, we had no doubts about him. Well done to him and to all the team for this second win in a row on this special TT Anniversary” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Lorenzo wins Dutch TT using extra durability of his harder rear Bridgestone slick Round 6: Dutch TT GP Race Assen, Saturday 26 June 2010 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear: Medium, Hard (asymmetric) Jorge Lorenzo used the harder rear Bridgestone slick to take victory in Assen today in a race that pitted the increased edge grip of the softer rear slick tyre against the extra durability of the harder rear compound. Making an early break from the pack with a good start, the Fiat Yamaha rider pulled 1.2seconds ahead of the field at the start, before being caught by Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner, both of whom benefitted from the early advantage of the softer rear tyre. By lap ten though, Lorenzo started to open a gap that grew steadily until the finish. The battle of the compounds continued throughout the field too, as Ben Spies nurtured his softer rear slick to pass Andrea Dovizioso, on the harder rear tyre, on lap 16. Randy de Puniet, also on the hard rear, then had a great scrap with Dovizioso and the pair traded places five times in the last two laps. Rounding out the top ten, Marco Simoncelli used a hard rear slick to emerge ahead of his close battle with Aleix Espargaro, who was on the softer option rear. As the track temperature reached 47 degrees Celsius, every rider opted for the harder option front slick. Hiroshi Yamada Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department “Congratulations to Jorge and Fiat Yamaha for their fourth victory this season! He rode a great race and is proving to be ever-stronger at each event. It is good to see Dani on the podium again, and of course Casey with his maiden podium finish this year. There were many exciting battles in that race, for fourth between Ben, Randy, and Andrea, between Marco and Aleix for ninth and between Mika, Hector and Loris for eleventh. There were a good number of spectators today to enjoy these and there was a great atmosphere to celebrate this 80th anniversary of the Dutch TT.” Tohru Ubukata Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “I am very happy with the result today because the race showed that both our rear tyre compounds were working well. Jorge used the harder rear to win by nearly three seconds, whilst Dani set the fastest lap of the race on the softer rear, only 0.01 seconds slower than the pole position time. We can also see that the consistency was good even for the softer option, as Ben’s penultimate lap was only 0.2seconds slower than his personal best during the race. This race demonstrates the performance overlap of our rear tyre options, and also shows how different rider and bike packages favour our different rear tyre options.” Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team Race Winner “This race was a little more difficult than Silverstone! I knew Dani was fast on the soft tyre but we were going with the hard tyre so I knew I had a little advantage at the end. Casey was also fast at the beginning, so I tried to stay focused and concentrated. I made a good start, waited a little bit, then I could open every lap this little gap. The last laps were quote difficult to keep the pace high, but the important thing is that we can always be on top.” Top ten classification (Saturday 14:00 GMT+2) Pos. Rider Team Race time Gap Front spec Rear spec Tyres 1 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 41m18.629s Medium Hard Bridgestone slick 2 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 41m21.564s +2.935s Medium Medium Bridgestone slick 3 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 41m25.651s +7.022s Medium Medium Bridgestone slick 4 Ben Spies Monster Yamaha Tech3 41m31.894s +13.265s Medium Medium Bridgestone slick 5 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 41m33.952s +15.323s Medium Hard Bridgestone slick 6 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 41m34.401s +15.772s Medium Hard Bridgestone slick 7 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 41m44.496s +25.867s Medium Medium Bridgestone slick 8 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 41m47.620s +28.991s Medium Medium Bridgestone slick 9 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 41m54.287s +35.658s Medium Hard Bridgestone slick 10 Aleix Espargaro Pramac Racing Team 41m54.466s +35.837s Medium Medium Bridgestone slick Weather: Dry. Ambient 25°C; Track 47°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP are already targeting next week’s Catalunya Grand Prix in Barcelona after a difficult race at the Dutch TT in Assen today left the team with a lot of work to do. Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista finished in 13th and 14th places respectively and this result was well below what they were expecting at the 4,542m Dutch circuit. Capirossi struggled to get any feel from his Suzuki GSV-R as the issues that dogged him at Silverstone last week continued in the hotter temperatures of Assen. He was immediately working with his team after the race to assess the data and see how they can make the changes that will help the bike to be more competitive at Catalunya in just one week’s time. Bautista did the best he could today as he struggled with his injured shoulder around the physically demanding circuit. He began the race in severe discomfort and although he tried to push hard he couldn’t find that strength to battle it out with other riders. He rode a lonely race before bringing his bike home safely after 26 gruelling laps. The Dutch spectators filled the Assen circuit today for the 80th running of the Dutch TT; with 97,146 fans at trackside to witness Jorge Lorenzo take his second successive victory to increase his lead at the head of the riders’ championship. Rizla Suzuki now makes the European cross-continental trip to Montmelo near Barcelona in Spain for the next round of the 2010 MotoGP World Championship, to be held at the Catalonian circuit on Sunday 4th July. Loris Capirossi: “I just don’t know what to say after this weekend – when I try to go quicker than I did today I feel like I will crash and when I try to make a race I end up almost last. The effort we are putting in is a lot and I am really angry and annoyed, because the whole team is trying really hard, we make so many changes to try to find the best solution and we just cannot find it. We just had no feeling at the start today and we needed three or four laps to get any kind of feel in the tyres, but by then it was too late. It is the same to finish 11th or 13th, both positions feel the same and it is just not good enough, we need to make some big changes for next weekend so we can try to be more competitive.” Álvaro Bautista: “This has been a very bad race for us for a couple of reasons. Yesterday in qualifying it looked like we had improved the bike, but when I woke up this morning I felt more pain in my left arm. I think that yesterday I did too much and today my left arm was very tired and painful. This was a bad start for a race, but I tried to be positive and have a good race. From the first lap though it felt very difficult riding the bike, because it felt like the tyres were still not warm enough, so I tried to push and find my rhythm like in practice, but the bike just moved around much more than it did in practice I don’t know why. I struggled a lot in the race and I just tried to do the best I could. I hope that the feeling is better for the next race because it is my home GP. I have a week to get some more strength in my arm and try to recover a bit more and hopefully get a better result in Barcelona.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Things have been very difficult this season and they didn’t get any easier today! Álvaro’s potential is unclear, based on the fact that his injury restricted him so much again today. We hope that the layout of the Barcelona track will be a bit kinder to his body and allow him to push harder. I want to say sorry to Loris and Álvaro that we couldn’t give them a competitive machine today, Loris especially is incredibly frustrated and that frustration is shared by all of us. We have to keep working hard and keep focused to find the key that will allow the riders to perform to the best of their abilities.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA SECOND IN DUTCH TT, DOVIZIOSO FIGHTS TO FIFTH Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa rode to an impressive second place in the 80th edition of the Dutch TT today and duly climbed back into second place in the MotoGP World Championship. It was a pleasing result for the Spaniard after a difficult weekend during which he and his crew spent much of the time chasing the right set-up for the Assen circuit. In the morning warm-up session, his team found some answers to the handling issues they had been tackling which allowed Pedrosa’s RC212V to set the fastest lap of the race and to take the battle to today’s winner Jorge Lorenzo in the 26-lap encounter. Pedrosa’s new race lap record of 1m34.525s was just 1/100th of a second slower than Lorenzo’s pole position time from yesterday. From a lowly seventh on the grid, Pedrosa skillfully threaded his way up to third into the first corner behind Ben Spies and Lorenzo in front. On lap three Pedrosa passed Spies and set off in pursuit of Lorenzo, quickl y catching his fellow countryman and threatening to take the lead from him. However, Lorenzo was able to pull away in the second half of the race and in turn Pedrosa stretched the gap to Casey Stoner behind him to secure a comfortable second place, just 2.935s back from the winner. It was Pedrosa’s third rostrum finish of the season to add to his win at Mugello and his second place at Jerez. His Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso put on another fighting display and, like last weekend at Silverstone, he had a lengthy battle with Randy De Puniet – their duel this time going right down to the last corner. From sixth on the grid Dovizioso made up one place into the first corner and soon climbed to fourth behind Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner. Mid race front-end issues with his machine caused the Italian to slip back to sixth, but in the closing laps Dovizioso mounted a spirited fight back and held off a determined attack from De Puniet – who lunged past and then ran wide into Assen’s final bend. Dovizioso now holds third place in the World Championship, just four points behind Pedrosa. A breathless MotoGP paddock now heads directly for Barcelona for next Sunday’s Grand Prix of Catalunya – the third of three races on consecutive weekends. DANI PEDROSA 2nd World Championship position: 2nd 93 points “Well first of all I have to say I’m surprised by this result because, I tell you, in practice we had a lot of problems and we tried so many things that didn’t work, so I wasn’t expecting to get second today or to have this pace. For the warm-up we found something which gave us a better lap time and my rhythm improved a lot, which gave us the chance to fight in the race. I knew with the soft rear Bridgestone tyre that I would have more of an advantage in the first part of the race and so I pushed really hard from the start to catch up. But then I began losing a little bit of time in the first section of the circuit and lap-by-lap we lost touch. Anyway, this is a good result for us and I’d like to say thanks to my team because they never gave up. I’m back into second in the World Championship but actually I’m more pleased with second in this race. Now we go straight to Catalunya for my home GP and I hope we can have a good race there too.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 5th World Championship position: 3rd 89 points “We had higher expectations for today’s race and so I’m a little disappointed with how things went. I made a good start and moved up to fourth but I couldn’t ride the laps under 1m 35s that were needed to stay with the leaders. We weren’t at 100% with the front-end feeling which meant I couldn’t ride as aggressively as I wanted. Having said that, we could have finished in fourth today, but in the battle with Randy we lost time and Spies took advantage of our duel to get a gap. Considering how Dani’s and Casey’s soft tyres worked, our choice of the hard compound Bridgestone was perhaps not the perfect one today. Anyway, we have to learn from this and I’m looking forward to Barcelona – it’s a track that I really like. Today’s race was disappointing, but with only five days before we get back out on track we won’t have to w ait long before we can make amends.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo marked the 80th anniversary of the Dutch TT with an emphatic win from pole position. The Spaniard’s fourth win of the season stretched his lead at the top of the championship standings to 47 points over today’s second place finisher, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. Ducati’s Casey Stoner claimed third in today’s TIM TT Assen, securing his first visit to the podium this season. Ben Spies and Pedrosa gained major benefits from good starts as both improved four places from their grid positions to slot into second and third place respectively, as Lorenzo led the field into the Haarbocht turn from pole position. Lorenzo started to open up a very early lead and for the first couple of laps it looked like the Spaniard would race clear as he did at Silverstone, but Pedrosa and Stoner both passed Spies on lap three, before closing the gap on the leader. Andrea Dovizioso passed Spies as well early in the race to move into fourth, and by the midway point he was a second ahead of the American, who in turn led sixth placed Randy de Puniet by just over 1.5s. As Stoner struggled to find a way past Pedrosa, just as he had done six days ago at Silverstone, Lorenzo started to again edge away, extending his advantage little by little as the laps flew by. Further back Spies closed right up on Dovizioso and passed the Italian to move into fourth, with de Puniet also joining the three-way fight for fourth place At the front Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner became further separated from one another, whilst de Puniet and Dovizioso fought intensely to the last lap, with the Frenchman out of the seat on more than one occasion, as he pushed his tyres to the limit. Lorenzo eventually crossed the line 2.935s ahead of Pedrosa, but it quite wasn’t the easy win that many expected at Assen for the Spaniard. “The race was a big more difficult than Silverstone, because Dani was so fast with the softer tyre early in the race,” declared Lorenzo. “I went with the harder rear tyre, which I knew would come good towards the end, but even then I was sliding around quite a lot. Actually, I made a mistake at the chicane in the closing stages and nearly crashed, so I was quite glad to finish!” Lorenzo celebrated by planting the usual ‘Lorenzoland’ flag in a gravel trap and then getting his entire team to sign a world cup football in parc ferme. “The football was to celebrate my ‘hat-trick’ of wins at Assen; I’ve won here in all three classes now,” explained the championship leader. Pedrosa’s second place was enough to elevate the Spaniard back to second in the championship standings, ahead of his Repsol Honda teammate, Andrea Dovizioso. “I’m surprised by this result, because we had a lot of problems in practice and I wasn’t expecting to be able to run this pace today,” said Pedrosa, after the race. “I knew the soft tyre would give me an advantage early on, so I pushed really hard, but then I started losing time through the first part of the circuit and lost touch with Lorenzo. I’m happy I’m second in the championship today, but I’m more pleased with second place in the race.” Stoner finally took his first podium of the season in third aboard the Ducati. Spies finished fourth in another impressive display from the rookie, with Dovizioso edging out de Puniet for fifth with another overtake on the chicane just before the finish line. Nicky Hayden, Colin Edwards, Marco Simoncelli and Aleix Espargaró all took top-ten finishes. Marco Melandri was absent from the race after he dislocated his left shoulder in the second free practice session on Friday morning. The result extended Lorenzo’s lead at the top of the Championship further and he now stands on 140 points after six rounds, having finished in the top two in every race. Pedrosa moved into second on 93 with his podium finish, ahead of teammate Dovizioso who is third on 89. Moto2 Andrea Iannone took his second win of the season from pole position today at Assen, after dominating qualifying and the race in a similar style to that which he displayed at Mugello, where he took his first victory in the new Moto2 class. The Italian topped every session this weekend aboard his Fimmco Speed Up machine, and was headed only briefly in the 24-lap race, which he won by just under five seconds from current championship leader, Toni Elias. Ratthapark Wilairot got off to a flying start from his best-ever grid position of second and led into the first turn, Haarbocht. Toni Elías shot through from his place on the second row to take third into the first turn, as he stepped immediately into the contest. However, poleman Iannone quickly assumed the lead and started to open up a gap as he had done at Mugello. Fonsi Nieto made a good start and was in the running early on, but held up the pursuing pack as he struggled to match their speed, and allowed Iannone to open up an unassailable advantage at the front of the race. “I got a good start, but I just didn’t have the engine to stay with the frontrunners,” said Nieto, after retiring from the race following a crash six laps into the race. Elías moved up into second on lap three and began to try and close up what was already a 2.3s gap to Iannone, as Valentin Debise took a ride-through penalty due to a jumpstart. Anthony West returned to the pit lane for an adjustment to his MZ machine, before eventually retiring from the race three laps later when he lost the nut from the rear axle. In fourth place and preparing to play an important role was Thomas Lüthi, whilst behind him Julián Simón, Jules Cluzel and Shoya Tomizawa battled for fifth. Arne Tode was the next crasher and was forced to retire from the race. Meanwhile Elías and Wilairot continued to engage in a progressive battle for second place as they swapped places on a number of occasions, but all the while Lüthi was tracking the pair down as he narrowed the gap and soon caught up. As Iannone rode a lonely race at the front Lüthi and Wilairot began to open up a fantastic duel for the final podium spot as they exchanged positions countless times, right up until the final lap. Iannone eventually crossed the line 4.492s ahead of Elías, with Lüthi managing to hold onto third to complete the podium as Wilairot placed fourth. Tomizawa and Simón completed the top six, with a substantial eight-second gap back to seventh placed Cluzel who was followed by Mike di Meglio, Karel Abraham and Yuki Takahashi. Elías extended his lead at the top of the Championship to 24 points as he moved onto 100, with Tomizawa (76) and Lüthi (74) maintaining second and third respectively. Iannone’s win moved him up to fourth on 67 points. Absent from the race were Alex Debón and Axel Pons, who were both injured in Friday’s qualifying session. 125cc Marc Marquez secured his third consecutive win of the season at the TIM TT Assen today, marking him out as a true contender for this year’s 125cc World Championship title. The race got underway in brilliant sunshine and with the same pace he’s shown in qualifying to take pole position, Márquez got off to a blistering start, leading into the opening corner ahead of Bradley Smith, Nico Terol and Efrén Vázquez. Pol Espargaró, who led the Championship by a single point before the start of the race, dropped positions from his starting spot on the front row. Espargaró rode hard to regain ground and on lap two he pushed through on both Vázquez and Smith to slot into third, but by the next lap Márquez and Terol were two seconds clear at the front of the race as they opened up what was to be a continually increasing gap. Vázquez dropped out of the running when he crashed at Turn 15 on the fourth lap, as he struggled to match the pace of teammate Espargaró, and immediately after Esteve Rabat’s race was ended when he highsided off the Blusens Aprilia. Luca Marconi and Marco Ravaioli also joined the list of crashers as the race went on. Márquez’s rhythm remained rapid as he and Terol battled it out at the front, but the race leader did have a moment on lap 15 when the front of his bike lifted off as he pushed it to the limit. The race was then decided on lap 16 when the front two encountered a back marker in the form of wildcard rider Jerry van de Bunt. Márquez managed to pass the Dutchman without incident but Terol was not so fortunate, and had to force himself through on the inside line as Van de Bunt crashed. The momentary hold up allowed a two-second gap to be opened up by Márquez, and he did not relinquish the advantage. From there Márquez guided his bike home for his third successive win, with Terol eventually crossing the line 2.332s adrift in second. Espargaró completed the podium a further five seconds back, with Smith fourth. Sandro Cortese was an additional 27 seconds back in fifth, with Randy Krummenacher, Danny Webb Luis Salom and Simone Grotzkyj all inside the top ten, which was completed by Jonas Folger, who had fought his way through from 32nd on the grid. The result means that Márquez maintains third place in the Championship standings on 107 points, with Terol regaining the lead from Espargaró by moving onto 118 points, with the Tuenti Racing rider on 115 in second. More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Fantastic fourth for Ben Spies at sun-kissed Assen Ben Spies produced another outstanding ride today in the 80th running of the historic Dutch TT, the Texan thrilling a crowd of nearly 100,000 fans with a stunning fourth place. Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider Spies made a blistering start from fourth on the grid to take up the tough challenge of fighting with dominant MotoGP world championship leader Jorge Lorenzo in the early stages. Opting to use the softer compound Bridgestone rear tyre, Spies kept Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner at bay with a hard charge in the opening laps before he slipped down to fourth on lap four. Unable to match the pace of the leading trio despite pushing his YZR-M1 machine to the limit, Spies became locked in a close dice with Andrea Dovizioso. The Italian looked at ease in fourth spot before Spies mounted a brilliant attack on lap 15 from fifth position. He started the lap over 0.7s adrift of Dovizioso but slashed the deficit to 0.103s at the end of lap 15. Spies then produced a brilliantly executed overtake on Dovizioso at the final chicane on lap 16 and was able to use his superior speed to pull out a comfortable gap over the Repsol Honda rider. But Dovizioso wasn’t finished and inspired by Randy de Puniet’s attack, both began to hunt down Spies as the battle for fourth intensified. Spies responded with a masterful performance in the final four laps, the 25-year-old holding his nerve with some brilliantly aggressive riding to prevent de Puniet and Dovizioso fro m getting close to denying him fourth place. Spies took fourth by nearly two seconds at the conclusion of the 26-lap race to continue the excellent form he displayed when storming to a maiden podium at Silverstone last weekend. It is the second successive race that he has finished leading non-factory rider and he moved firmly into the battle for a top four championship placing. Fellow American Colin Edwards extended his impressive record of scoring points in all six races so far this season with a solid ride to eighth place. Edwards continued to adapt to a new front-end geometry set-up he first tried this weekend and gained crucial information that he hopes will help him close the gap to the leading group in future races. The 21-points collected by Spies and Edwards today moved the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad into fourth place in the Team World Championship standings, the French squad once again the leading independent squad in the series. Ben Spies 4th 49-points “I got a good start and was happy with that. I ran the soft rear tyre because it made the front load better for turning and the track temperature was hotter than all weekend. But it didn’t work as well I’d hoped in the first ten laps and then when Dani and Casey came by I knew I was holding them up. But I was sticking with my game plan. I tried as hard as I could and 12 laps in Andrea passed me. But then his tyres dropped down to where I was with mine and I reeled him back in. The podium battle had gone away and then over the last three laps I heard Andrea and Randy putting the pressure on. I put my head down hard and managed to open a gap. I was sliding a lot but I managed to stretch away and I could cruise the last lap. I wanted at least fourth p lace today and I’m happy but I didn’t have the pace for the podium like in Silverstone. I’m happy with the result and we go to Catalunya next week not knowing the track and I think we will be a little bit on the back foot again. But I’ll do the same as the past two weeks and push as hard as I can.” Colin Edwards 8th 34-points “I can’t be disappointed or upset with eighth place and wonder why I didn’t get a better result when I rode my heart out. There was nothing else I could have done today but I know what we can improve. We’ve been experimenting with some different front-end settings and we’ve made it better, but I just lose a bit of time when I release the brakes and can’t turn the bike how I want. And losing that little bit everywhere adds up by the end of the lap and makes it difficult. I know I rode harder than last year when I finished fourth, but I’m eighth. I guess that pr oves that those guys at the front are running an unbelievable pace. I was behind Nicky for a long time but I could never get close enough to put a pass on him. Looking at Ben it can be better and once again, I can’t praise him enough. He’s riding really good and I have to congratulate him because at the last two races he’s been really impressive.” Herve Poncharal Team Manager “I can’t say enough good things about Ben. He made an incredible start and he almost took the lead. We knew Casey and Dani would push hard and in the first few laps I don’t think Ben had a great feeling with the bike. But he dug deep and continued to push and I have to give him enormous credit for that. Dovizioso and de Puniet were pushing really hard at the end but Ben’s strength is his pace on used tyres and he demonstrated this again. Being greedy we’d have liked to be on the podium again but fo urth showed he is the best of the rest of the moment. His confidence is really high and he’s proving a massive asset for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team. Colin had a strong race and after Silverstone he found a direction with the bike, which we hope will work in the future. He was pushing hard and never gave up and the points he scored have helped us move back into fourth place in the Team Championship. That is very important for us. I said that in 2010 the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team had its strongest line-up ever in MotoGP and I think today again we proved that.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: Assen, 26 June: the LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet crossed the line in sixth place in today’s 26-lap Ducth Grand Prix at Assen race track reinforcing his place as the best of the championship’s top privateers. Saturday’s 80th Dutch TT got underway at 14:00 local time and was held in hot conditions (48° on the ground) and sunny skies at the circuit known for its inclement weather. Randy de Puniet had waited three years for a front row grid position when he started from second spot last weekend at Silverstone, and yesterday the Frenchman has secured two in the space of two races after another fantastic qualifying performance. Riding the RC212V nr. 14, the 29-year-old was sixth after the first lap and started a close battle with Spies and Dovizioso for the fifth place ending the Dutch round with a breathtaking last lap. LCR crew and Randy will now move to Spain for the Catalunya GP on the 4th of July. De Puniet 6th De Puniet: “After a positive qualifying lap time, I took a bad a start from the second spot because I dropped the clutch too quickly having a big wheelie but after that I overtook many riders in the first run. Unfortunately I had some issues on the front tyre at the beginning of the race so I decided to change my riding style a little bit to keep the pace. Then in the middle of the race I caught Dovizioso and Spies starting a close battle and I had fun. In the last lap I tried to overtake Dovi again but went too wide in the last corner. Anyway we are very pleased about this result and this week end bec ause we maintain our sixth position in the classification”. More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER BACK ON PODIUM IN HOLLAND, HAYDEN SEVENTH Casey Stoner picked up his first podium of the season today after a tough race run at a very fast pace that only three riders – eventual race winner Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and the Ducati Marlboro Team man – were able to maintain until the end. Nicky Hayden got away well from the second row but got blocked by traffic into turn one and lost several positions. He managed to pass Colin Edwards and Marco Simoncelli within a handful of laps but had lost contact with the front group and was unable to reproduce his pace from practice. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 3° “This is the first race this season we have come away from with a decent result. It shouldn’t be our first podium of the year but that’s the way it is and it was nice to finish a race, not just a qualifying session, and head to parc ferme. The team has been doing a fantastic job, especially over the last two weekends, when we have established a good base setting that has allowed us to fight for the podium, if not the win yet. Unfortunately at Silverstone we had the start we had but here it was me that struggled more than the bike with arm-pump from about mid distance – it was the same problem as Silverstone and I guess we didn’t have time to recover. It is another setback we have to deal with now but I think we can get over it. Anyway all in all it was a positive day and I want to thank the team for the work they have done”. NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) 7th “Seventh place isn’t exactly the best but as always I’m trying to look at the positives: after making a good start on Thursday we had a difficult session on Friday morning with a breakdown and a crash, when we also wrecked a set of tyres, and that obviously made things hard for us. Whilst the rest made progress with their set-up we lost ground. I got a decent start but got held up by De Puniet and was passed by a lot of riders. I managed to pass Colin and Simoncelli but lost time and even though I tried to close the gap the front end tucked a couple of times and I had to settle for seventh. It’s a shame because it’s our worst result of the year apart from the crash at Mugello but we go racing again next week and we’ll be trying to get back to the front.” VITTORIANO GUARESCHI, Team Manager “We deserved this podium, we haven’t had one for a bit and we’re happy that it’s arrived today. The team worked very well, they found a good set-up for the race and fixed the problem with the clutch that penalized Casey a week ago. Casey rode very well, he made eight laps in the 34s, and I think that if he hadn’t had the problem with his arm he would have been able to attack Dani. In any case he did a great race. Nicky lost time in the first corner and lost contact with the leading group and he wasn’t able to catch them back up. The problems he had in practice didn’t help him to find a set-up that he could trust but I am sure that he will be back in front at the next race.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing: GOOD RESULT FOR THE PRAMAC RACING TEAM RIDERS: TENTH POSITION FOR ESPARGARO’, ELEVENTH FOR KALLIO. Good test for the Pramac Racing Team riders today on Assen circuit. Aleix Espargarò has completed the race in the tenth position, obtaining the fourth position among the top ten in the last four races. Despite the bad start that saw him lose several positions, he immediately retrieved the riders ahead of him. After passing Kallio in the third lap, he start to recover the gap he had from Simoncelli, that was nearly three seconds ahead. A good race pace has given him the opportunity to reduce the disadvantage by Italian rider and overtake him in the fourteenth lap. Just after he had pass Simoncelli, Aleix tried to detach and recover Edwards in the eighth position. But because the gap he had from the American was almost five seconds, and because Simoncelli was always close to him, Aleix thought to be overtake by the Italian rider and study his trajectory in order to identify the point where he can try the final overtake. Despite the very small gap on the last lap, he was unable to move back ahead and to win the ninth position. Good performance for Mika Kallio that thanks to a good start, had won the eleventh position. The Finn has battled for almost all the race with Capirossi and Barberà to win the eleventh position. Over the last five laps it was first passed by Loris Capirossi and then intensely struggled with Barberà. A great last corner start, allowed him to keep the Spaniard back and finish the race in the eleventh position. A positive weekend for riders who have always given their best to obtain an important result of this historic Dutch circuit. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Team Technical Director “Assen result do not fully repay the work we have done during this weekend, we knew that we could go very fast on this track and get an important result with both riders, in any case is a positive result. We finished the race with both riders and we have seen the steady growth of both. Mika had struggled to get the eleventh position, he has a great start, he was in tenth position after the first lap. He subsequently lost a few positions, but in the last turns he headed the group that was struggling for eleventh and in the last round he had won the position against Barberà. It ‘s a good result that gives good hopes for his complete recover on the Barcelona track where he will race next weekend. Good race for Aleix who proved once more to improve his feeling with his bike and this category. The hope is that he can get a good result in his home track next week. ” Aleix Espargarò – Pilot Pramac Racing – 10th in the race – 12th in World Championship “The result does not prove the full value I could give on this track. Unfortunately the bad start had made me lost immediately the contact from the first riders, I had to fight to regain the positions I have lost. After I had pass some riders I have had a good race pace that allowed me to recover the gap I had from Simoncelli. In eight laps I managed reduce the three seconds gap I had from him and pass him. I pushed as hard to try to detach him but I risk the falling into a couple of strokes. At seven laps I made him pass me. I studied the places where I could try to overcome him, but the last lap I could not be so close to beat him. I’m also happy to had a so reduced gap from the Grand Prix winner, this is the minimum gap I had in this season. In the next week we’ll race in Barcelona, my home Grand Prix. I will do my best to obtain a good result for my team and my fans. ” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team – 11th in the race – 14th in the World Championship “I’m very happy for the excellent start I had that allowed me to gain three positions after the first lap. Unfortunately my race pace has not allowed me to stay with the best riders, my bike was not very quick in some fast points of the track. I fought with Capirossi and Barberà for the eleventh position. In the last five laps I was able to drive the group to the end and I win the battle with Barberà that he could not pass me in the last corner. I hope to get a better result next week on the Spanish circuit. ” More, from a press release issued by Honda: PEDROSA SECOND IN RACE AND CHAMPIONSHIP Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) recorded the fastest lap of the race en route to a superb second place to race winner Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) to reclaim second in the MotoGP World Championship in front of a sun-drenched crowd of over 97,000 at the 80th Dutch TT. The Spaniard moved into second on the third of 26 laps and stalked Lorenzo throughout, closing sharply on the fourth of 26 laps when Pedrosa set a new fastest lap on the slightly altered 4.542kms Circuit van Drenthe. Pedrosa was able to keep within a second of Lorenzo for the first half of the race, which he credited to the team. His Repsol Honda technicians had transformed the RC212V overnight and when he went out in Saturday morning warm-up the difference was impressive, he said. Using that newfound braking stability and front-end feel, he was able to nearly match the pace of the leader. But in the second half of the race his medium compound rear tyre wasn’t the equal of Lorenzo’s harder choice, and Lorenzo was able to incrementally gain ground. That left Pedrosa to concentrate on securing second place, and his third podium in six races, but it wasn’t easy. Pedrosa was under attack from Ducati rider Casey Stoner, but the Australian suffered from arm pump in the second half of the race and Pedrosa’s position was secure. Pedrosa moved back into second in the championship, four points ahead of team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, who was a podium threat for more than half the race. Dovizioso started the race in fifth before quickly moving to fourth on lap four. At that point he was behind Stoner and soon to discover that the pace was a bit too quick. The Italian wasn’t feeling confident in the front end, which tempered his aggression. He was also slowed by his tyre choice. Though the harder option worked well for Lorenzo, it didn’t work as well for Dovizioso. The second half of the race provided an entertaining battle among Ben Spies (Yamaha), Dovizioso, and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda). The trio was nearly inseparable until the final three laps, when it was clear that de Puniet was suffering from a lack of grip. At that point Spies got away and, on the 25th of 26 laps, Dovizioso passed de Puniet in the fast section leading to the chicane. De Puniet immediately countered, coming past in the chicane, then it was Dovizioso getting a superior drive onto the straight. De Puniet edged ahead, only to run wide into the first turn to hand fifth back to Dovizioso on the final lap. De Puniet was happy with his race pace until the final four laps. He’d chosen the softer front tyre and the extra heat on race day produced more wear than the team had seen all weekend. With no confidence in the front end, de Puniet relied on the rear end, which was visibly moving under acceleration. Still, he came away pleased that he’d battled for the podium and equalled his best finish of the season. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) had one of his longer races as a MotoGP rookie, though he was still able to produce a top ten finish. The Italian noticed a lack of grip from the start of the race, which meant he was taking unnecessary risks from the outset. He settled into a battle with Aleix Espargaro (Ducati), who he passed on the 21st lap. Espargaro wasn’t going down without a fight, and battled Simoncelli to the line. The San Carlo Honda Gresini rider prevailed by less than two-tenths of a second. Simoncelli was the lone representative for the San Carlo Honda Gresini team in Assen. Team-mate Marco Melandri dislocated his left shoulder in a violent Friday morning crash. He considered racing, but realised on race day morning that it wasn’t possible. He expects to be back in the saddle at Barcelona next weekend. Kousuke Akiyoshi (Interwetten Honda MotoGP), who was drafted onto the Interwetten Honda MotoGP team to replace Hiroshi Aoyama, finished with the final point. The Honda test rider was in Assen to test the bike and look for areas that could be strengthened for all Honda riders. Akiyoshi will also race Aoyama’s Honda RC212V at Barcelona. Aoyama broke his T12 vertebra in a high-side at last weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The mercurial Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) repeated his dominant performance from Mugello by speeding from pole position to his second victory of the season. The Italian took all the drama out of the race on the first lap. He crossed the line with over a second in hand and continued to pull away at a brisk clip. By the 18th of 24 laps he had over nine seconds in hand, after which he decreased his pace. Even so, with a final lap that was three seconds slower than his best, he won by 4.492s. Iannone has had a feast or famine season. Other than his wins here and in Mugello, he has only two points-paying finishes; a fourth in Le Mans and a 12th at Silverstone. If he’s to be a championship challenger he’ll need more consistency, a lesson he could learn from Toni Elias. Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) increased his championship lead with a second place finish. The Spanish MotoGP veteran battled Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT Singha SAG) for the entire race, with the pair being joined by a trio of others in the final stages of the race. With five laps to go Elias was leading the pack of five from Wilairot and Swiss rider Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki), who turned in his best lap of the race on the 19th. Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP, Suter) and Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar, Suter) were close, second through sixth covered by two seconds. Two laps later the pack split up into a trio fighting for second and pair for fifth. Luthi pushed Wilairot off the podium on the penultimate lap with a pass into the Haarbocht first corner right, but Wilairot came back at him only a few turns later and was leading when they exited the Strubben hairpin for the run down the longest straight. Then Luthi passed him again and led across the line as Elias edged away. On the final lap, Elias led Luthi and Wilairot, with Wilairot again passing the Swiss rider into turn one. One turn later Luthi was again in second, a spot he’d hold to the finish. Wilairot was just off the podium in fourth and just in front of Simon. Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing, Suter), last week’s winner at Silverstone, finished seventh. Elias now leads the championship with an even 100 points, 24 more than Tomizawa, who has two on Luthi. Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team) finished 18th in the 125cc race which was won by Marc Marquez (Derbi). The 2009 German and European champion was hopeful of a better result at the iconic Dutch track, one of several he’s racing on for the first time, but it wasn’t to be. He vowed to be back in contending form in Barcelona. The paddock packed up on Saturday night to begin the drive south to Catalunya, north of Barcelona, for the third race in as many weekends, and the seventh race of the season. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V): 2nd “Well, first of all I have to say I’m surprised by this result because, I tell you, in practice we had a lot of problems and we tried so many things that didn’t work, so I wasn’t expecting to get second today or to have this pace. For the warm-up we found something which gave us a better lap time and my rhythm improved a lot, which gave us the chance to fight in the race. I knew with the soft rear Bridgestone tyre that I would have more of an advantage in the first part of the race and so I pushed really hard from the start to catch up. But then I began losing a little bit of time in the first section of the circuit and lap-by-lap we lost touch. Anyway, this is a good result for us and I’d like to say thanks to my team because they never gave up. I’m back into second in the World Championship but actually I’m more pleased with second in this race. Now we go straight to Catalunya for my home GP and I hope we can have a good race there too.” Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V): 5th “We had higher expectations for today’s race and so I’m a little disappointed with how things went. I made a good start and moved up to fourth but I couldn’t ride the laps under 1m 35s that were needed to stay with the leaders. We weren’t at 100% with the front-end feeling which meant I couldn’t ride as aggressively as I wanted. Having said that, we could have finished in fourth today, but in the battle with Randy we lost time and Spies took advantage of our duel to get a gap. Considering how Dani’s and Casey’s soft tyres worked, our choice of the hard compound Bridgestone was perhaps not the perfect one today. Anyway, we have to learn from this and I’m looking forward to Barcelona – it’s a track that I really like. Today’s race was disappointing, but with only five days before we get back out on track we won’t have to wait long before we can make amends.” Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V): 6th “It was a good race and I had fun but, like in Mugello, I finished behind the leading group. It’s a pity, but I feel satisfied anyway. I took a very good start from the front row and I could rely on my machine as we lapped consistently fast for the whole weekend. With four laps to go the front started to move too much because we raced on front soft tyre [which was the right choice] but probably today’s ground temperature was a bit higher compared to the rest of the weekend. We had a great race weekend and I am a big fan of this new circuit. The guys gave me an incredible machine here and we can be pleased about this result as we battled for the podium. In my opinion we moved a step forward in this week end and will do our best to keep the sixth position in the world classification.” Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V): 9th “It has been a particularly difficult day today. After practice I was hoping for a different kind of race but it didn’t go to plan. I knew something wasn’t right from the start because the feeling wasn’t as good as yesterday, the rear tyre didn’t have the same grip and from the first lap I was taking risks. I decided to pull oars into the boat and get to the line in the best position possible. It is a top ten finish but we wanted more today. It is a shame but on the plus side we did a good job just to get the bike to the finish. Now we go to Barcelona and I hope we can build on the good qualifying practice we had yesterday.” Kousuke Akiyoshi (Interwetten Honda MotoGP): 15th “First of all I have to say that I wish all the best to Hiro (Aoyama) and I hope he will come back soon. In general this was a good weekend for me. I am here as a replacement and to test the bike and to help the team. The last time I was part of a race of the world championship was more than a year ago and once again I really enjoyed this experience. I am looking forward to the race in Barcelona.” MOTO2 RIDER QUOTES Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up): 1st “The race was hard today. Wilairot passed me and after a while I overtook him: this was a good chance as it was important to go away. Behind me Toni (Elias) and the other guys were fast, I couldn’t make the gap wider. Once half of the laps were gone, I managed to leave them behind with an important distance. It’s also thanks to my team: we work well together and that makes it easier to score results. Now it’s important to work using our brains, to stay focused because Catalunya is next Sunday and it’ll be an important GP.” Toni Elias (Gresini Honda Moto2, Moriwaki): 2nd “After some poor results at Mugello and Silverstone to get back on the podium is perfect. I had a bit of trouble with (Ratthapark) Wilairot and (Fonsi) Nieto at the start and lost precious time over the first two laps to Iannone that I couldn’t make up once I got clear. He was very strong, just like at Mugello. I worked hard for this second place though and it is important for the championship. It gives me and the team a boost and it seems we have come through the bad spell we had in the last couple of races. “ Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki): 3rd “The start of the race was not easy. I had a good start, but could not switch into the gear and lost the connection a little bit because of that. Then Iannone was already building up a gap behind him. At the end I was able to fight for the podium, but the second place was impossible to reach. I am very happy with my third place though.” HONDA 125 RIDER QUOTES Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team): 18th “It did not go well at all and I don’t know why. I was sleeping in the beginning, even though I had a good start. Then some very slow riders were in front of me and I could not overtake at any point and that was not really motivating. I didn’t find a good rhythm and could not stick to the group. Why it went like it did I cannot say as I don’t know, but I am very disappointed.”