Max Biaggi was credited with the win in the 500cc Grand Prix at Assen Saturday, when a cloudburst hit the track on the 16th of 20 scheduled laps and the race was red-flagged and called complete, and scoring was backed up a lap.

Biaggi’s advantage over Rossi in official results was 0.126-second with Loris Capirossi another 0.606-second behind.

Crashers included Carlos Checa, who knocked down Norike Abe, and Alex Criville, who crashed by himself. Results follow:

1. Max Biaggi, Italy, Yamaha, 30:56.346
2. Valentino Rossi, Italy, Honda, 30:56.472
3. Loris Capirossi, Italy, Honda, 30:57.078
4. ALex Barros, Brazil, Honda, 30:57.577
5. Shinya Nakano, Japan, Yamaha, 31:06.190
6. Kenny Roberts, USA, Suzuki, 31:06.968
7. Sete Gibernau, Spain, Suzuki, 31:10.605
8. Tohru Ukawa, Japan, Honda, 31:14.966
9. Jurgen van den Goordbergh, Holland, Proton, 31:15.203
10. Noriyuki Haga, Japan, Yamaha, 31:18.903
11. Olivier Jacque, Grance, Yamaha, 31:28.975
12. Jose Luis Cardoso, Spain, Yamaha, 31:56.662
13. Leon Haslam, Great Britain, Honda, 31:56.807
14. Haruchika Aoki, Japan, Honda, 31:57.032
15. Anthony West, Australia, Honda, 31:32.622


Jeremy McWilliams won the 250cc Grand Prix at Assen on a drying track. Key to McWilliams’ victory was his choice of cut slicks.

Points leader Diajiro Katoh was 11th, and Championshiop contender Tetsuya Harada pitted to trade rain tires for slicks and finished 24th and out of the points despite turning the fastest lap of the race.

American Jason DiSalvo did not finish, 29th on the results sheet and 10 laps behind McWilliams, and Katja Poensgen also did not finish, 3 laps behind. Results follow:

1. Jeremy McWilliams, Great Britain, Aprilia, 39:28.516
2. Emilio Alzamora, Spain, Honda, 39:44.887
3. David DeGea, Spain, Yamaha, 40:06.925
4. Sylvain Guintoli, France, Aprilia, 40:07.730
5. Franco Battaini, Italy, Aprilia, 40:37.977
6. Marco Melandro, Italy, Aprilia, 40:57.984
7. Luca Boscoscuro, Italy, Aprilia, 41:05.979
8. Riccardo Chiarello, Italy, Aprilia, 41:10.475
9. Jeronimo Vidal, Spain, 41:10.803
10. David Tomas, Spain, Honda, 41:13.231
11. Daijiro Katoh, Japan, Honda, – 1 lap
12. Alex Hofmann, Germany, -1 lap
24. Tesuya Harada, Japan, Aprilia, -1 lap
27. Katja Poensgen, Germany, Aprilia, -3 laps
29. Jason DiSalvo, USA, Honda, -10 laps


In the wet 125cc race, Spanish teen Toni Elias, 18, beat France’s Arnaud Vincent by 0.607-second to win. Gino Borsoi led, crashed, and picked up his bike to finish sixth, with points lead Manuel Poggiali crashed out. A total of 16 riders crashed in the race. Results follow:

1. Toni Elias, Spain, Honda, 41:34.738
2. Arnaud Vincent, France, Honda, 41:35.345
3. Steve Jenkner, Germany, Aprilia, 41:57.991
4. Noboru Ueda, Japan, TSR-Honda, 42:08.717
5. Jakub Smrz, Czech Republic, Honda, 42:19.934
6. Gino Borsoi, Italy, Aprilia, 42:23.294
7. Mirko Giansanti, Italy, Honda, 42:23.630
8. Jaroslav Hules, Czech Republic, Honda, 42:32.736
9. Alessandro Brannetti, Italy, Aprilia, 42:48.801
10. Jarno Mueller, Germany, Honda, 42:49.798