VOLUME 56 ISSUE 26 JULY 2, 2019 P63
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
Y
amaha's long wait is over. After eight bar-
ren races and a sea of doubts, Maverick
Vinales washed away the pain with a
convincing victory at classic Assen.
It came for the Spaniard one race after he'd
expected it, after he was knocked flying by
Lorenzo at Montmelo a fortnight prior. But it
proved what he had thought possible there, that
"somehow we've found a good setup for races."
It helped that the Yamahas thrive on the high-
speed changes of direction that still character-
ize the only circuit to have hosted a GP every
year since 1949, in spite of the 2006 changes
cutting length and introducing a very slow first
to-and-fro loop. The factory Monster Energy
team rider was not the only M1 rider to shine.
His win only just eclipsed the remarkable
weekend of super-rookie Fabio Quartararo
(Petronas Sprinta Yamaha), who had qualified
on pole for a second successive race, led for
12 laps—more than any other rider, and finished
third, for a second podium in a row.
And with second satellite-team rider Franco
Morbidelli placed fifth after a strong closing
run to split the factory Ducatis, it was some
compensation for a disastrous weekend for
the marque's biggest star. Valentino Rossi had
qualified 14th and had made his way to 11th after
four laps when he clattered into second LCR
Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami on the way into
the fast Stekkenwal corner, taking both of them
out and leaving the Japanese worryingly prone
for a while, though he escaped serious injury.
Rossi ran to check the fallen rider, and later
apologized. "I was maybe off line, and I lost the
front," he said.
The race was disastrous also for fancied
runner Alex Rins, second last year, who took an
early lead from the front row, only to tumble off
the Ecstar Suzuki on the third of 26 laps.
Victory
Maverick Vinales
scored his
first win since
Australia last
year after an
epic battle with
Marc Marquez
