Miguel Oliveira won his second Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race in 7 days. The 13 year old Portuguese rode superbly to pull through from 7th at the end of lap one to steal the lead from fast starting 15 year old German Daniel Kartheininger with 3 of the 16 laps remaining. Kartheininger then crashed leaving Sturla Fagerhaug to take second in a last corner fight with Matthew Hoyle who was third leaving Daijiro Hiura 4th. “I am so happy to score a second win in this Cup, I can hardly believe it,” said Oliveira. “It was so hard early on. I didn’t make a good start and we had a big battle with a lot of riders all trying so hard. When I managed to get through to second I just pushed and pushed to catch Dani. When I got in front I could see from the big TV screens that he was chasing me. I just went as fast as I could, I saw that he wasn’t behind me on the last lap but I didn’t know he had crashed.” While Kartheininger raced away from front row of the grid at the start there was drama behind. Cup Leader Luis Salom ran off at the second corner complex and after paddling through the gravel was dead last. It gave the chance to JD Beach to take the Cup lead and the 16 year old American raced through to second by lap 4. He might well have chased Kartheininger for the win but slid off on lap 6. “The front end just folded on me.” said Beach. “I tried to prop it up on my elbow and I almost got away with it but then it went away. I just picked the bike up as quick as I could and raced after the guys to get the points. I knew Luis had gone off on the first lap but I wasn’t going to change the way I was riding ’cause I guessed he didn’t crash and would be getting in the points anyway.” Beach raced back through to take 8th at the flag with Salom ahead of him in 7th. Salom gained 1 point to open the Cup gap to 10 with 3 of the 10 races remaining. Fagerhaug closed the gap to his 3rd place in the Cup standings to 20 points between himself and Beach. “It’s my starts again,” said the 16 year old Norwegian who started from pole. “I made good starts in Donington and Portugal so I’ve just got to learn what I did right there. It was a hard fight to make up ground and when I got up to second I thought I might close on Dani but then Miguel came past and I got caught up in the fight with Matt and Florian.” Hoyle was thrilled to be on the podium for the first time this season after a rough start to the year. “Finally, I have been waiting for this. It was a hard race and though a couple of us tried to work together and chase after Dani it’s hard not to go passing each other and we weren’t catching him. It came down to the chicane on the last lap fighting for the podium and I just wasn’t going to be the first to brake.” The day was Oliveira’s though and he had never seen Assen before. “It is a very difficult track and certainly I learnt from the other riders in the race. I picked up some good lines and then I concentrated on being smooth and accurate, using all the track and not making any mistakes.” Kartheininger was left wondering at what might have been. “I made such a good start and then I looked back and saw I had a big lead. I just kept concentrating and though I knew that they were closing the gap a little suddenly Miguel came past on the straight. It was a big surprise. He didn’t get away from me, I followed for half a lap but then the back slid and high-sided me even though I only got on the gas the same as the lap before.” Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Assen, Netherlands June 28, 2008 Race Results (all on KTM RS125s): 1. Miguel OLIVEIRA (POR), 16 laps, 29:46.585 2. Sturla FAGERHAUG (NOR), -3.531 seconds 3. Matthew HOYLE (GBR), -3.991 4. Daijiro HIURA (JPN), -4.054 5. Florian MARINO (FRA), -9.933 6. Daniel RUIZ (SPA), -10.312 7. Luis SALOM (SPA), -13.966, ran off track 8. J.D. BEACH (USA), -23.921, crash 9. Cristian TRABALON (SPA), -24.555 10. Jakub KORNFEIL (CZE), -24.692 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Championship Point Stanings: 1. Salom, 129 points 2. Beach, 119 3. Fagerhaug, 97 4. Hiura, 76 5. Nelson Major, 68 6. Ruiz, 60 7. Oliveira, 58 8. Kornfeil, 47 9. Deane Brown/Mathew Scholtz, 42