Two stories dominated the talk at Assen before the MotoGP race. Cal Crutchlow's first MotoGP pole was impressive, but even more staggering was double hard b*****d Lorenzo lining up on the grid despite breaking his collar bone in practice. Remember this is a man who bump started a MotoGP bike with two broken ankles - he is one tough little Spaniard. Oh, and Marquez broke his finger and toe in practice...
Rossi's win was a popular one for many
Assen is a fast and flowing track and usually throws up some great racing and with Valentino looking hungry and Marquez and Pedrosa ahead, could this be the Doctor's day? A poor start saw Cal drop down to fourth from pole, but Lorenzo seemed to have forgotten his broken bone, firing through to fifth spot in the opening laps from 12th.
We all wanted to see what would happen if Valentino got away with the leaders; at Assen we found out. With Pedrosa looking to escape, Valentino needed to get past Marquez, something he achieved with a stunning late braking manoeuvre. Was the old Rossi back?
Lap 21 and the unbelievable happened, Rossi took the lead. When was the last time the great man had clear air in front of him for more than a few corners?
Mid race and despite Rossi still leading the way the Hondas were back on his tail while Lorenzo and Cal were also starting to close the gap, although Lorenzo wasn't (understandably) quite looking his usual self! With 11 left Cal slipped past Jorge to take fourth while at the front Valentino was still setting the pace by about half a second.
It's been a while but Rossi is back on top
Some swapping of places between the Repsol 'team mates' (how much longer will this term apply?) allowed Rossi to extend the gap to nearly a second with eight laps left.
With the Hondas dropping in pace, and Cal merrily cutting through them, Valentino managed to extend his lead to nearly three seconds and take the win with Marquez second and Cal third after nearly wiping them both out! It's taken nearly three years (Sepang 2010) but welcome back to the top step Valentino - we've missed you.
Moto2 and after Tiger Toni threw his bike away on the warm up lap, it was down to business for the rest of the field! After leading for the first few laps, Redding settled into the leading trio alongside Espargaro and Aegerter with Rabat a few lengths behind. An attempt to check out by Espargaro was thwarted by Redding and after a cracking series of laps the pair entered the final lap side by side. There was inches in it, but sadly for the Brits Scott had to settle for second.
Moto3 produced the usual freight train with five riders all going for the win. Vinales led the way into the final lap, but a great move by Salom stole the win with two corners to go. Rins finished third.
MotoGP
1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha Factory Racing)
2. Marquez (Repsol Honda Team)
3. Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3)
Moto2
1. Pol Espargaro (Tuenti HP 40)
2. Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team)
3. Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert)
Moto3
1. Luis Salom (Red Bull KTM Ajo)
3. Isaac Vinales (Matteo Ferrari)
2. Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0)
Brit watch
Cal Crutchlow (MotoGP) - 3
Bradley Smith (MotoGP) - 9
Michael Laverty (MotoGP - CRT) - 22
Scott Redding (Moto2) - 2
Danny Kent (Moto2) - 20
Gino Rea (Moto2) - 25
Kyle Smith (moto2) - DNF
Danny Webb (Moto3) - DNF
John McPhee (Moto3) - 21
After the excitement of MotoGP on Saturday, it was hard to focus on WSB - although Baz did rather attempt to get some WSB TV time in superpole with a spectacular crash that left even the air in the Kawasaki's tyres bent!
Race one and with Sykes on pole (again) it was Jonathan Rea who briefly set the pace before a massive first lap moment dropped him well down the order. An Italian round usually means an Italian gets all excited and sure enough Giugliano took the lead from Guintoli, Sykes, Laverty and Melandri in the early stages. Behind the Italian it was time for Guinters to suffer some bad luck as his Aprilia went pop, effectively wiping away his championship lead as Sykes hit the front.
Tom Sykes' strong season continues
While at the front the action was pretty limited, you had to hand it to Jonathan Rea who fought through the field to fourth spot before dropping it. A win to Sykes, local hero Giugliano in second and Laverty's Aprilia making it to the finish in third.
Race two and with a new engine bolted in, Guintoli looked keen to reassert himself after his race one nightmare, however once again it was Sykes, Giugliano and Rea at the front - well until the Italian tucked the front...
This race the Aprilia bad luck hit Laverty, who crashed out on lap five, while Sykes cleared off and Rea created clear between him and Guintoli in third. By mid race Sykes had it sewn up while Rea was looking comfortable in second, leaving the podium race between Melandri and Guintoli, but even this was a remote chance as Guintoli was clear and Davies starting to nip at Melandri's heels.
A double for Sykes and the championship lead, consolation points for Guintoli and a big repair bill for Aprilia!
After red flag and then a bit of early lap antics and bad start in the re-start, Supersport star Sam Lowes fought back magnificently to take second place behind Sofuoglu and keep his championship lead.
Race one
1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
2. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing)
3. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team)
Race two
1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
2. Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike)
3. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team)
Championship places
1: Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
2: Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team)
3: Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team)
Brit watch
Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) - DNF
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) - 1/1
Leon Camier (Suzuki) - 7/7
Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) - 10/9
Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) - DNF/2
Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) - 6/5
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