Casey’s Stunner

Casey Stoner has smashed the lap record and bettered the 2007 A-Style Assen TT race time by almost 25 seconds in a dominant display at a dramatic Dutch MotoGP. The Ducati pilot doubled his winning margin from Donnington, crossing the line once again standing tall on the vertical Ducati  11.31 seconds ahead of Honda rider Dani Pedrosa.

Pedrosa’s teammate Nicky Hayden rode a strong race in third on the new pneumatic engine Honda, but the fresh engine proved to be too thirsty.  It was 2 years ago that a late race crash by Colin Edwards gifted Hayden his only MotoGP win outside of the USA, and with the Honda spluttering towards the line on fumes, the Tech 3 Yamaha swept by to claim the final podium spot and redress Edwards’ disappointment from 2006. Ironically Assen was the worst qualifying performance of the season for Edwards, and his best race result.

Nicky Hayden limped across the line behind his delighted compatriot for fourth while Andrea Dovizioso scored his fourth top five result in MotoGP with fifth place on the JiR Team Scot Honda.   

Jorge Lorenzo continued his solid showing with sixth place ahead of solo Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen and the sole remaining Gresini Honda of Shinya Nakano while James Toseland racked up another top ten finish in ninth.

Sylvain Guintoli just managed to finish in the top ten for the first time this season. Guintoli’s tenth was the best performance by a Ducati other than Casey Stoner with Elias and Melandri finishing second last and last after being rounded up by a recovering Valentino Rossi for 11^th and a valuable 5 points in the championship.

The opening lap saw Rossi make a critical error into the left hander at turn one, loading up the rear brake and low-siding on cold Bridgestones. The sliding Yamaha took out perennial crasher Randy De Puniet, surprising most in the paddock, who are more accustomed to seeing the asphalt-friendly Frenchman play the villain then the victim.

The same lap saw Alex De Angelis throw the Gresini Honda down the road in a nasty accident that appeared to injure the Italian for a brief moment and Anthony West joined the list of non-finishers on lap seven with a clumsy low side under breaking that didn’t help the terrible season for Kawasaki.

Casey’s dominant performance at Assen has closed the points gap between him and front runners Rossi and Pedrosa to just 25 points. Pedrosa has taken the lead from Valentino Rossi and leads the veteran 171 points to 167.

The next round at the Sachsenring Germany takes place on the 13^th July.