MotoGP 2013 - Rd7 - Assen
QUALIFYING
Thursday's first practise session saw Lorenzo record a time of 1'53.263 in the morning period, then undo that good work in the wet afternoon session, crashing at the rapid Hoge Heide section running up to Ramshoek, after hitting a patch of standing water. A broken left collarbone was confirmed soon after, with the Spaniard returning to Barcelona that day for surgery to fix and plate the break.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3's Cal Crutchlow and Marquez were second and third fastest behind Lorenzo on the opening day. While the wet conditions made form tough to gauge, this pair's performances reflected what was to come in Friday's final qualifying.
With rain again falling on Friday, but not during the final qualifying session itself, a number of riders battled for pole position on the damp track. Pedrosa had looked likely to collect his third consecutive pole, but crashed at De Bult with six and a half minutes remaining and would tumble to fifth overall.
In the end, Crutchlow prevailed to claim his first ever MotoGP pole position with a 1'34.398 time. Alongside the Brit on the front row were Marquez and LCR Honda MotoGP's Stefan Bradl. All three, as well as Rossi, were on provisional pole at various stages. The number 3 slot was Bradl's first ever front row start, while Rossi's fourth was his best qualifying position this year. Monster Energy Tech 3 Yamaha's Bradley Smith qualified sixth, behind Pedrosa, his best grid position to date.
Bryan Staring recorded one of his best qualifying performances of the year, putting the GO&FUN Honda Gresini CRT machine on the 19th grid position, ahead of five other competitors.
RACE
Fortunately, dry conditions greeted the starters for the race. Somewhat surprisingly, Lorenzo did line up on the grid, in 12th place, after being cleared to ride only four hours before the start.
The Repsol Honda pair led the way from the start, with Rossi making a decisive pass on Bradl before the first lap came to a close. A lap later, a mistake from Bradl allowed both Crutchlow and Lorenzo through, while Rossi continued his pursuit of the Hondas.
On Lap 5, Rossi reeled in Marquez, followed a lap later by Pedrosa. While the Italian held the lead, he was unable to put a significant gap on Pedrosa, with the margin being no more than half a second for the next dozen laps.
Behind Rossi, the battle for the minor placings proved to be the most contested, as the mid-field and backmarkers were largely unchanged throughout the rest of the race.
On Lap 18, Marquez passed Pedrosa, but he was unable to reel in a dominant Rossi, who eventually stretched his winning margin to 2.1 seconds. On Lap 21, Pedrosa lost the final spot on the podium to Crutchlow, who took off after Marquez. The Brit was close enough to touch Marquez's rear wheel - literally - in the closing stages, almost causing a crash on the final lap, before he eased off to secure the final podium position.
Rossi's success is his first since returning to Yamaha at the start of this year and, as well as being his 80th win in the top tier, is his 106th career victory and eighth at Assen.
"Today was something special," Rossi said after the race. "This is one of the best victories in my career because it is one of the most wanted and expected for such a lot of time.
"I'm so happy because I won a real race where all my opponents were very strong and very fast, apart from Jorge with his injury. It was great from the beginning, I had a good feeling, I could overtake on braking and I felt good on the bike.
"It was difficult but the finish line was calling me, so I had to arrive as fast as possible. We have made a step with the bike, I can ride in a better way so we have to try and stay with the top guys every weekend."
Pedrosa finished fourth, his worst result this season since Round 1 in Qatar. Behind him, Lorenzo's impressive performance saw the injured Spaniard leapfrog five riders on the opening lap alone. Running as high as fourth midway through the race, Lorenzo settled into fifth place in the final laps, battling the pain of his injury. While never in a position to threaten Pedrosa for race placings, the finishing positions of both riders keep Lorenzo's title defence hopes alive.
Behind Lorenzo, Bradl was a distant sixth, followed by a tight knit pack that included Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini), Aleix Espargaro (Power Electronics Aspar CRT), Smith and the factory Ducati Team pair of Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden. Randy de Puniet (Power Electronics Aspar) finished twelfth, with Andrea Iannone (Energy T.I. Pramac Racing) claiming thirteenth after crashing in the earlier practise sessions.
Staring was unable to match his points-scoring result of the previous round in Catalunya, finishing 21st, ahead of Michael Laverty (PBM CRT) and Ivan Silva, who was filling in for the injured Hiroshi Aoyama on the Avintia Blusens CRT bike. Lukas Pesek (Came IodaRacing CRT) was the only non-finisher, pulling into the pits on lap 11.
Marquez's second place boosts his championship situation, less than one race win adrift of Pedrosa, whose fourth place meant he extends his championship lead over Lorenzo, but only by two points.
The top ten championship placings after 7 of 18 rounds are: Pedrosa 136; Lorenzo 127; Marquez 113; Crutchlow 87; Rossi 85; Dovizioso 65; Bradl 51; Hayden 50; Bautista 47; Espargaro 44.
With two weeks until the next round of the 2013 MotoGP championship - the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland at Germany's Sachsenring on Sunday, July 14 - Lorenzo will no doubt be doing all he can to speed his recovery.
Images: motogp.com
