Stoner closes up on Rossi with Assen victory

Varad More                                       30 June 2008

Once the red-lights went off and the grid rushed into the first corner, Honda rider, Dani Pedrosa snatched away the lead from pole-sitter Casey Stoner pushing him down to second. However, by the end of the first lap, the young Australian smoothly overtook the Spaniard for the lead and then started to open up a gap between him and the rest of the pack. Valentino Rossi had a bad start and while he tried hard to quickly make up places, the Italian crashed on turn five during the first lap taking down Randy de Puniet's Honda with him as well.

And though "The Doctor" rejoined the race at the back of the grid, there was no other rider in the leading pack who could possibly stop Stoner from running away. The Ducati rider then comfortably opened up a huge gap of 11.310 seconds on Pedrosa by the end of the race. Both Honda factory riders, Dani Perdosa and Nicky Hayden were dicing for the second place, however, Pedrosa found good rhythm and he was able to maintain a decent margin over his team-mate to bag second place on the podium. Going halfway into the 2008 MotoGP season, the Spaniard now heads the Championship in the point's standings.

Riding a rather lonely race in third place, Nicky Hayden looked all set to clinch his first podium of this season and the American was recording consistent lap times throughout the race. However, the reliability issue of his new pneumatic-valve RCV Honda once again raised its ugly head and the engine failed right after he exited the final corner.

His compatriot Colin Edwards, was probably one of the most composed riders and after being relegated to twelfth place on first lap, he rode extremely well and swiftly moved up the order to fourth place. However, Hayden's loss of power on the last turn was clearly Colin's gain and he notched up his second podium of this season with a third place at Assen. Interestingly, in 2006, Edwards had lost his victory at the Assen Circuit to Nicky Hayden on the final corner and now two years later he made it even. Coasting on the bike, Hayden was able to cross the finish line in fourth as he watched the Texas Tornado fly past him. 

MotoGP rookie, Andrea Dovizioso who started eleventh on the grid, carried good pace from the start and managed to cross the line in fifth by the end of the last lap. Another rookie and highly skilled rider Jorge Lorenzo, had a tough time riding in Assen. The young lad was not able to challenge the front-runners and had to settle for sixth position. Suzuki rider Loris Capirossi suffered a major right arm injury during the free practice session and he was forced to spend his weekend resting. His team-mate Chris Vermeulen did a pretty good job and took the seventh spot followed by Shinya Nakano In eighth.

Still recovering from the crash he had at the Donington Park GP seven days ago, James Toseland managed to finish in ninth. French man Sylvain Guintoli finished where he started, in tenth, but during the final two laps he stuck close on the heels of the Brit rider ahead of him.