Marquez makes it eight with Assen win

MotoGP™ World Champion Marc Marquez produced a masterclass in difficult conditions at the Iveco Daily TT Assen on Saturday to make it eight wins from eight races in 2014, ahead of fellow podium finishers Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) – after an entertaining flag-to-flag contest.

In a race which started after a delay due to wet conditions Marquez judged the 26-lap challenge to perfection, running with Dovizioso at the front in the early stages and asserting his authority as the riders changed to dry set-up machines on the seventh lap.

Dovizioso was briefly able to lead after Marquez made a mistake and ran wide. Despite the Ducati rider’s best efforts he was unable to hold off the young Spaniard whose pace was simply higher.

Marquez eventually clinched the win by 6.7s seconds to become the first rider since the great Giacomo Agostini in 1971 to win the first eight premier-class races of the year.

“I was very nervous before,” Marquez admitted. “The conditions are what no one wanted, very dangerous. We started on the right tires as we knew it would dry. To risk slicks was too dangerous. I made a small mistake after swapping. I was happy with second but then it started raining a tiny bit. After that I settled into a rhythm and I passed Andrea. It was still very hard, I had to stay 100 percent concentrated.

“The team had everything under control which helped me a lot, seeing them calm kept me calm. They were so clever. The slick was too dangerous at the start, this was the key decision. I just concentrated on riding. It was hard going from wet to dry. But I felt better with each lap and I had a high pace throughout. I was able to push hard.”

Dovizioso stepped onto the rostrum for the second time in 2014, the first coming in Austin.

“At the begining we understood where it was wet and dry, so we could push very hard,” Dovizioso explained. “And we made the same strategy as Marc, it was the best moment I feel. In the first lap on the slicks Marc pushed a little too much and had a moment of the left hand side of the tire that was cold. I knew his pace was quicker so I stayed with him as long as I could.

“It was a very hard race from beginning to end. It was important to understand the track, the colour at Assen is quite strange so it can be hard to see the wet and dry spots. In the first laps we tried to keep the RPM low to limit the spins, but then both Marc and I decide to push 100%.”

Meanwhile Pedrosa was fighting hard with pole man Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing). The two passed each other multiple times before the factory Honda rider broke away. Pedrosa eventually finished almost nine seconds ahead of Espargaro.

“At the beginning on the grid it was very stressful to make sure everything was correct,” Pedrosa said. “It was not easy to make the right choice, but the team was ready and we all stayed calm, able to maintain our focus. I had a very hard battle with Aleix, but a good one. In the wet I was going very soft to save the tires in case it rained again. This was not the best strategy but we made up for it. The feeling on the bike was not 100 percent but good enough for the podium.”

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) took fifth having shown great pace in the second half of the race, his problem being a late decision to swap back from slicks to wets at the start. Rossi started from pit lane on wets, therefore, and recovered considerable ground before and after the swap back to slicks.

Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing), Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini), Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3), Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) and Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) completed the top 10.

Broc Parkes (Paul Bird Motorsport) rode superbly to 11th having started from pit lane following a problem on the warm up lap.

Jorge Lorenzo had a good start, the Spaniard moving up from ninth to sixth in the first lap. Having found a good wet pace, he threatened to break into the top five when changing weather again disrupted the race. Lorenzo made the change to a dry bike and having returned in 17th was able to move up several positions to 13th by the flag.

Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) retired with six laps to go after crashes on slicks and then wet tires.

Wet specialist Anthony West (QMMF Racing Team) took Moto2™ victory at the Iveco Daily TT Assen, using all his experience to finish ahead of Maverick Viñales (Pons HP 40) and Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team) who joined him on the podium.

The 32-year-old Australian former premier class rider won from 23rd on the grid in his 211th Grand Prix, crossing the finish line 0.3s ahead of Viñales, with Kallio 0.4s further back. It is West’s first win since the 2003 Dutch TT.

The race start was delayed by 20 minutes as heavy rain fell on the initial sighting lap with pole man and championship leader Esteve Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team) crashing in that first outing. Rabat still started on pole and eventually finished eighth.

Johann Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing), Alex De Angelis (Tasca Racing Moto2), Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) and Julian Simon (Italtrans Racing Team) all used their considerable experience to finish in fourth to seventh places restively.

Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) took a second successive Moto3™ victory at Assen on Saturday, with Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra Racing) joining him on the podium after crashes for championship frontrunners Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Romano Fenati (SKY Racing Team VR46).

Marquez built on his Barcelona win with another dominant performance to take victory by three seconds, leading for the majority of the race from second on the grid. His teammate Rins briefly challenged him for the lead but the younger Marquez brother eventually had too much for his compatriot over the course of the 22 laps.

Rins overtook Oliveira for second in the final stages, while 12 seconds further back Alexis Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold) won a tremendous battle for fourth between a group of seven riders.

Miller crashed in the early stages while Fenati battled to 18th after coming back from an early mistake and then crashing to drop back again.

Neither of the championship front runners were hurt and they remain first and second in the standings with Miller still seven points in front, though Marquez has now pulled level second with Fenati, while Rins sits fourth – three points adrift of his teammate.

–From motogp.com and Yamaha Racing

MotoGP Race Results (courtesy Repsol Honda)

MotoGP Standings / Top 16 (courtesy Yamaha Racing)

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