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Saturday, 25 June 2011 06:11 |
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Page 1 of 2   MotoGP results of the race at the Dutch circuit in Assen - Triple AMA Champion and World Superbike Champion Ben Spies has added a victory in the premier class of motorcycle road racing to his impressive curriculum vitae after dominating the Dutch TT and taking the chequered flag, on the 50th anniversary of Grand Prix racing for Yamaha, ahead of the two Repsol Hondas of Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso.
Spies was edged out of pole position by San Carlo Honda Gresini Team rider Marco Simoncelli on Friday, rode a perfect race to take the chequered flag by 7.697 seconds ahead of Stoner in second place.
A good start off the line kept the Texan out of the drama that developed on the first lap in the first left hander when pole starter Italian Simoncelli took out Spies’ team-mate Jorge Lorenzo in the third corner.
In his haste to pass the reigning world champion, the long haired Italian fell victim to a cold rear tyre, was low-sided off the bike taking the Majorcan racer off with him, ending another opportunity of reaching the podium.
Stoner, now 28 points ahead of Lorenzo in the Championship, led his Repsol team-mate Andrea Dovizioso to the finish, where the Italian claimed his third top three finish of the 2011 season and is now only nine points behind the Spaniard in the title chase.
The Ducati Team duo was lead across the finish line by Valentino Rossi in fourth and Nicky Hayden in fifth and while Lorenzo was able to rejoin the race, he remounted his red and white M1 and stormed through the field to sixth place.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider Colin Edwards was seventh, in front of Dani Pedrosa’s substitute Hiroshi Aoyama, who sat in the garage after the race displaying a small banner to the injured Spaniard to return soon.
After push starting his own tattered looking RC212V, with damage to the tail section, Simoncelli too passed the slower back markers to end his race in ninth, with local rider Toni Elias of the LCR Honda completed the top ten finishers.
A front end problem saw Cal Crutchlow return to the pits, then re-entered the race to finish 14th and score some points.
Czech racer Karel Abraham ended his weekend by falling off the Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati early in the race, followed a short time later by Randy de Puniet who was again unable to complete a full race distance on the Pramac Racing Desmosedici, the fourth premature exit of the season for the Frenchman.
Pramac Racing's veteran Loris Capirossi did not take to the grid due to injuries sustained in a fall in Friday's qualifying.
Weather: Dry | Air: 14ºC | Track: 16ºC | Humidity: 82%
| Pos. |
N° |
Rider |
Team |
Bike |
Speed |
Gap / First |
| 1 |
11 |
Ben SPIES |
Yamaha Factory Racing |
Yamaha |
169.7 |
41'44.659 |
| 2 |
27 |
Casey STONER |
Repsol Honda Team |
Honda |
169.2 |
7.697 |
| 3 |
4 |
Andrea DOVIZIOSO |
Repsol Honda Team |
Honda |
167.9 |
27.506 |
| 4 |
46 |
Valentino ROSSI |
Ducati Team |
Ducati |
167.7 |
30.684 |
| 5 |
69 |
Nicky HAYDEN |
Ducati Team |
Ducati |
166.9 |
43.172 |
| 6 |
1 |
Jorge LORENZO |
Yamaha Factory Racing |
Yamaha |
166.8 |
44.536 |
| 7 |
5 |
Colin EDWARDS |
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 |
Yamaha |
165.2 |
68.112 |
| 8 |
7 |
Hiroshi AOYAMA |
Repsol Honda Team |
Honda |
165.1 |
70.753 |
| 9 |
58 |
Marco SIMONCELLI |
San Carlo Honda Gresini |
Honda |
164.2 |
84.925 |
| 10 |
24 |
Toni ELIAS |
LCR Honda MotoGP |
Honda |
164.1 |
86.216 |
| 11 |
19 |
Alvaro BAUTISTA |
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP |
Suzuki |
163.3 |
98.466 |
| 12 |
8 |
Hector BARBERA |
Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP |
Ducati |
161.5 |
1 lap |
| 13 |
64 |
Kousuke AKIYOSHI |
San Carlo Honda Gresini |
Honda |
158.5 |
1 lap |
| 14 |
35 |
Cal CRUTCHLOW |
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 |
Yamaha |
151.6 |
2 laps |
| NC |
14 |
Randy DE PUNIET |
Pramac Racing Team |
Ducati |
145.4 |
25 laps |
| NC |
17 |
Karel ABRAHAM |
Cardion AB Motoracing |
Ducati |
|
0 laps |
BEN SPIES
"It was a strange race today as it was one of the most comfortable races we had, and it resulted in a win. I saw the Simoncelli crash on the TV screen in the corner of my eye, so I knew about it. I had a good feeling in the bike in the first couple of laps and had to push as much as I could to get a gap. When Casey was pushing back, I still had a few tenths if I needed to. We could always match the pace. To do it this weekend with the 50th (anniversary) colours gives a little bit of pressure, but it came out good. I was racing as hard as I could. I have to thank my guys; they gave me a great bike today. At least we've won a race now."
CASEY STONER
Today we would have liked to challenge for the win, but the way this weekend has gone for us, I'm really very happy for a podium finish and to take some valuable points. Yesterday we weren't happy with the bike set-up, so today we made some changes and tried to get some more feeling. But unfortunately in the warm-up we didn't get a proper chance to try it, which meant we started the race with a set-up we didn't really know. After the crash yesterday, I'm a little bit sore. In the middle part of the race, I started to have some problems in the left hand corners with the shoulder, but in general we knew we didn't really have the pace to stay with Ben. I tried everything possible to catch him, but he was able to retain the advantage and started to pull some more. So my congratulations to Ben: He rode a great race. But for us it was just important to get points today."
ANDREA DOVIZIOSO
"I'm really happy with today's podium. It's a good result for the championship, and also it has come after a complicated race weekend. The track conditions were tough. When we were on the grid, the weather was still unpredictable and the track was not completely dry. So we went for a safe tire selection, choosing the soft front tire. This choice influenced my race because when I tried to stay with Casey, I was losing the front and I couldn't push harder. This is my only disappointment today. Then after 15 laps, a strange vibration on the rear began. It was very annoying, and I couldn't understand what it was. As I had a good margin from Valentino, I rode more carefully to secure the third position. After the race, we saw that the front tire had some issues, which Bridgestone will analyze."
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