Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1000688
MOTOGP FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 7 / JUNE 29-JULY 1, 2018 TT CIRCUIT ASSEN / ASSEN, NETHERLANDS P76 choose the soft rear tire—made his move. "During practice I was so comfortable, with a good rhythm, but I suspected before the race it would be dif- ficult to open a gap," he said. "So, I decided to wait, but in that transition, there was a big fight," he said. "I tried to push and tried to manage the tire, and in the last four laps I gave it everything." At the start of lap 23, he had 0.3 seconds from Dovizioso. "Once I had that I could take my own lines. Before that if you did, somebody would overtake. The most difficult thing was to defend and attack at the same time." Next time around he was a second ahead, and better than two at the flag. The battle raged behind him to the end. By then Rins had managed narrowly to get the better of Vinales for second, making an all-Spanish podium. The narrow defeat was easier for Vinales to take, because he'd finally had a strong race after struggling all season, especially in the early laps. "Unluckily, I couldn't fight for the win in the last laps be- cause I had some arm-pump problems on the right. But I could have fun again. I have recovered a lot of confidence in the bike. The chassis felt good on the fast corners. There are still some problems with electronics, but it's com- ing better!" had also caught up, though fast-away Andrea Iannone had lost touch on the second Suzuki. There would be five differ- ent leaders over the line, with Dovizioso leading laps 15 to 18, plus Rossi and Vinales once each. The action was breath- taking and non-stop, with colli- sions frequent. One came on lap 12 when Rins dived inside Marquez at the Strubben loop to take second. They clashed and Marquez nearly fell. The same rider had another such mo- ment later with Vinales. But the scariest and most miraculous had been on lap five. Lorenzo led, Rossi had moved into second, and was chasing him around onto the fastest part of the track, through the Meeuwenmeer right-hander. Then Lorenzo lost the front at high speed, and saved it by a miracle. In the process, he slowed so suddenly that Rossi's Yamaha slammed into the back of the Ducati, breaking the carbon electronics box under Loren- zo's seat. The number of overtakes was uncountable. The pack was still close with just 10 laps left, with first to eighth covered by 1.6 seconds. Dovizioso was now in front of Marquez and Vinales, Lorenzo starting to drop back, his tires shot. With four laps left, Mar- quez—one of very few to GET ON WITH IT, DANI! Mystery surrounds? It seems every- one is talking about Dani Pedrosa's future except the rider himself. With Yamaha close to finalizing details with new sponsor Petronas to run a second team, and talking freely about supply- ing at least one factory-spec motorcy- cle, Pedrosa seems to be keeping his powder dry until the last details of the contract are signed. He spoke at the official pre-event press conference, basically repeating his non-information from the Catalunyan race two weeks earlier. "I know a lot of people are wanting information, but I can't give any different news. I expect to, sooner or later, but things are going slowly." Although there is no official confirma- tion, Pedrosa is expected to be joined in the new squad by Rossi protégé Franco Morbidelli, a move that Rossi laughingly approved of, "as long as he is not going to beat me." MARC VDS OUT With the Marc VDS team also pull- ing out of MotoGP to concentrate on Moto2 in the wake of their internal financial controversy, this means Mo- toGP numbers next year will drop from 24 to 22. The entry shrinkage leaves space for the much-vaunted Suzuki satellite team, but it will not happen next year, at least. This was revealed in an interview with Dorna by Suzuki project leader Ken Kawauchi, bring- ing to an end rumors of a deal with the Marc VDS team. NO F1 AT ASSEN Dutch rumors that Assen is planning to host F1 in the future brought forth a negative response from most of the riders at the pre-race conference— mainly because of the way the cars Briefly...