French rookie Johann Zarco scored his first pole position in MotoGP this weekend as the series landed at Assen in The Netherlands, but it was veteran racer Valentino Rossi who had plenty to smile about come the end of the 8th race of the season.
Zarco led the race until lap 11 as he managed to keep Marquez and Rossi at bay, but the factory Yamaha eventually found a way through before a short-lived shower really shook up the order.
With 7 laps to go Zarco was still in 5th, but decided to pit and change to his wet bike. He then picked up up a 30 second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, and the change to wet tyres also proved to be a bad one as the rain soon stopped. The Frenchman eventually came home in 14th place.
Meanwhile at the front Rossi was swapping the lead with Danilo Petrucci who was in the hunt for his first ever premier class win. The nine-time champion eventually got the better of his compatriot, crossing the line just 0.063s ahead of the Ducati man. A final lap battle with Cal Crutchlow saw Marc Marquez finish in 3rd, with Dovizioso coming home behind the Englishman in fifth.
Crutchlow was the only British rider left standing at the end of the 26 lap contest which also saw championship contender Vinales crash out on lap 15.
That crash means the Andrea Dovizioso is the new MotoGP series leader on 115 points, with Vinales on 11 and Rossi a further three behind. Marquez is also close to his rivals on 104 as his recent consistency continues to pay dividends.
An elated Rossi said following his first win of 2017:
“It’s a very important victory, not only for the Championship but the feeling – coming back to number one is fantastic, after one year. I race motorcycles for this feeling, for how I feel for five or six hours after the race – especially after a year without victory. It was a great race, a great battle with Petrucci and from a technical standpoint I’m happy. We’ve worked on the bike and changed the chassis, and now it’s like I’m more able to ride it in my way, in a better way. Everything is open, and from one track to it another can change a lot – so we have to wait and see at Sachsenring. But I’m so happy for my tenth victory here after getting the tenth in Barcelona – and they’re two of my favourite tracks so I’m so happy to be able to win ten times. The first moment I became optimistic about winning was when I had good pace and I was able to increase my advantage, then it started to rain! It was very difficult because it’s easy to make a small mistake and throw everything away. But after I battled with Danilo and I saw everyone stayed calm, I pushed a little bit in the last two laps and it was enough!”
Next weekend the paddock heads to Sachsenring before the annual summer break!
