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Lorenzo Extends Championship Lead
With Assen Win
Jorge Lorenzo put in another textbook performance at Assen today,
leaving his rivals trailing as he led from the front to win the 80th
Dutch TT and take his fourth victory of the season. In doing so he
becomes only the seventh rider in history to have won in three or more
classes at the historic racetrack, with 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP wins to
his name. Meanwhile Tech 3 Yamaha rider Ben Spies ensured that there
were still two Yamahas in the top four, despite the absence of Valentino
Rossi, with another brilliant performance to back up his maiden podium
last week.
Mallorcan Lorenzo had looked the man to beat all weekend after topping
both practice and qualifying and he got a great start from pole position
and quickly pulled out a second's gap, but by lap five Dani Pedrosa and
Casey Stoner were looming large behind him and for a few laps it looked
as if a tense three-way battle was in the offing. However Lorenzo's
choice of the harder Bridgestone tyre soon began to pay off and, with a
lighter fuel load by mid-race distance, he was able to step things up a
notch and gave himself an unassailable lead, crossing the line 2.935
seconds ahead of Pedrosa, with Stoner third and Spies fourth.
The Fiat Yamaha man's second win on the bounce sees him extend his
championship lead to an impressive 47 points from Pedrosa, while Rossi
remains fourth in the standings. The next round comes in just a week's
time at Barcelona in Spain, when Wataru Yoshikawa will join the Fiat
Yamaha Team to fill in until Rossi is back on board his M1.
Jorge Lorenzo - 1st, Time: 41'18.629
"This race was a bit more difficult than Silverstone because Dani
was so fast with the softer tyre early on in the race and I had to
really keep my concentration to stay in front of him at that point. I
was confident that my harder Bridgestone tyre would help me later on and
this was the case, so we made the right choice. It wasn't easy though
and at the end I was sliding quite a lot, in fact I made a mistake at
the chicane and nearly crashed so I was quite glad to finish! I am
really happy that I have won here in all three classes because it's such
a historic place and the football I had in Parc Ferme was to celebrate
this ‘hat-trick.' Thanks to all my Yamaha guys and also to Bridgestone
for this win, we have a big lead in the championship so we can afford to
stay calm and relaxed. Now we go to my home in Barcelona and I am
excited about another chance to race in front of the Spanish fans."
Wilco Zeelenberg - Team Manager Jorge Lorenzo
"We knew before the start that Pedrosa and Stoner had chosen the
softer tyre so we expected them to be fast at the beginning and in fact
we were quite pleasantly surprised that Jorge was able to make a gap so
early on. Then they came back to him but he is mentally very strong at
the moment and he just kept his head and did very well to stay in front,
because they were pushing him hard for a while. Once the laps went on
and our fuel load was reduced, Jorge was able to use the harder tyre to
his advantage and he succeeded brilliantly, we had no doubts about him.
Well done to him and to all the team for this second win in a row on
this special TT Anniversary"
Ben Spies scores a brilliant fourth at Sun-kissed Assen
Ben Spies produced another outstanding ride today in the 80th running of
the historic Dutch TT, the Texan thrilling a crowd of nearly 100,000
fans with a stunning fourth place.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider Spies made a blistering start from
fourth on the grid to take up the tough challenge of fighting with
dominant MotoGP world championship leader Jorge Lorenzo in the early
stages. Opting to use the softer compound Bridgestone rear tyre, Spies
kept Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner at bay with a hard charge in the
opening laps before he slipped down to fourth on lap four. Unable to
match the pace of the leading trio despite pushing his YZR-M1 machine to
the limit, Spies became locked in a close dice with Andrea Dovizioso.
The Italian looked at ease in fourth spot before Spies mounted a
brilliant attack on lap 15 from fifth position. He started the lap over
0.7s adrift of Dovizioso but slashed the deficit to 0.103s at the end of
lap 15.
Spies then produced a brilliantly executed overtake on Dovizioso at the
final chicane on lap 16 and was able to use his superior speed to pull
out a comfortable gap over the Repsol Honda rider. But Dovizioso wasn't
finished and inspired by Randy de Puniet's attack, both began to hunt
down Spies as the battle for fourth intensified. Spies responded with a
masterful performance in the final four laps, the 25-year-old holding
his nerve with some brilliantly aggressive riding to prevent de Puniet
and Dovizioso from getting close to denying him fourth place. Spies took
fourth by nearly two seconds at the conclusion of the 26-lap race to
continue the excellent form he displayed when storming to a maiden
podium at Silverstone last weekend. It is the second successive race
that he has finished leading non-factory rider and he moved firmly into
the battle for a top four championship placing.
Fellow American Colin Edwards extended his impressive record of scoring
points in all six races so far this season with a solid ride to eighth
place. Edwards continued to adapt to a new front-end geometry set-up he
first tried this weekend and gained crucial information that he hopes
will help him close the gap to the leading group in future races. The
21-points collected by Spies and Edwards today moved the Monster Yamaha
Tech 3 squad into fourth place in the Team World Championship standings,
the French squad once again the leading independent squad in the
series.
Ben Spies - 4th, Time: +13.265
“I got a good start and was happy with that. I ran the soft rear
tyre because it made the front load better for turning and the track
temperature was hotter than all weekend. But it didn't work as well I'd
hoped in the first ten laps and then when Dani and Casey came by I knew I
was holding them up. But I was sticking with my game plan. I tried as
hard as I could and 12 laps in Andrea passed me. But then his tyres
dropped down to where I was with mine and I reeled him back in. The
podium battle had gone away and then over the last three laps I heard
Andrea and Randy putting the pressure on. I put my head down hard and
managed to open a gap. I was sliding a lot but I managed to stretch away
and I could cruise the last lap. I wanted at least fourth place today
and I'm happy but I didn't have the pace for the podium like in
Silverstone. I'm happy with the result and we go to Catalunya next week
not knowing the track and I think we will be a little bit on the back
foot again. But I'll do the same as the past two weeks and push as hard
as I can."
Colin Edwards - 8th, Time: +28.991
“I can't be disappointed or upset with eighth place and wonder
why I didn't get a better result when I rode my heart out. There was
nothing else I could have done today but I know what we can improve.
We've been experimenting with some different front-end settings and
we've made it better, but I just lose a bit of time when I release the
brakes and can't turn the bike how I want. And losing that little bit
everywhere adds up by the end of the lap and makes it difficult. I know I
rode harder than last year when I finished fourth, but I'm eighth. I
guess that proves that those guys at the front are running an
unbelievable pace. I was behind Nicky for a long time but I could never
get close enough to put a pass on him. Looking at Ben it can be better
and once again, I can't praise him enough. He's riding really good and I
have to congratulate him because at the last two races he's been really
impressive.”
Herve Poncharal – Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team Manager
“I can't say enough good things about Ben. He made an incredible
start and he almost took the lead. We knew Casey and Dani would push
hard and in the first few laps I don't think Ben had a great feeling
with the bike. But he dug deep and continued to push and I have to give
him enormous credit for that. Dovizioso and de Puniet were pushing
really hard at the end but Ben's strength is his pace on used tyres and
he demonstrated this again. Being greedy we'd have liked to be on the
podium again but fourth showed he is the best of the rest of the moment.
His confidence is really high and he's proving a massive asset for the
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team. Colin had a strong race and after
Silverstone he found a direction with the bike, which we hope will work
in the future. He was pushing hard and never gave up and the points he
scored have helped us move back into fourth place in the Team
Championship. That is very important for us. I said that in 2010 the
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team had its strongest line-up ever in MotoGP and I
think today again we proved that.”
RESULTS
Pos.PointsNum.Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time/Gap
1 25 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 171.5 41'18.629
2 20 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 171.3 +2.935
3 16 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team Ducati 171.0 +7.022
4 13 11 Ben SPIES USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 170.6 +13.265
5 11 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 170.5 +15.323
6 10 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 170.4 +15.772
7 9 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 169.7 +25.867
8 8 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 169.5 +28.991
9 7 58 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 169.1 +35.658
10 6 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 169.1 +35.837
11 5 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing Team Ducati 167.7 +56.769
12 4 40 Hector BARBERA SPA Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 167.7 +56.890
13 3 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 167.4 +1'00.615
14 2 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 166.9 +1'08.074
15 1 64 Kousuke AKIYOSHI JPN Interwetten Honda MotoGP Honda 163.4 1 Lap
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