Dani Pedrosa had a
rough German Grand
Prix.
lems, he would be
able to race, said
doctors, although
another fall would
seriously risk turning the partial fracture into a full-blown
displaced fracture,
requiring surgical
repair.
He was passed
fit for morning
warm-up, only to
suffer another dizzy spell. Doctors
checked him again,
and found his blood
pressure bottoming
out once more, and
Pending race-morning checks
he was ruled out of the race.
for any residual concussion prob-
P23
The two crashes took the sting
out of the race, but spiced up
the championship battle, giving
Marquez the chance to close
a gap of 23 points on his teammate, which he would do. It
even improved the prospects of
the fourth and fifth-placed riders
Crutchlow and Rossi.
It evoked memories of a similar
situation at Assen in 1992. Mick
Doohan was significantly in the
lead on points from Wayne Rainey, who withdrew from the Dutch
race after suffering injuries in the
previous round in Germany. Then
Doohan crashed heavily in practice, breaking his leg badly and
missing four races while he underwent a grueling recovery.
He returned two races from
the end, but lost the championship to Rainey by four points.
Michael Scott
ROSSI NUMBERS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
VOL. 50 ISSUE 28 JULY 16, 2013
D
id you know that Valentino Rossi has won in the
premiere class of the World Championship on
five different motorcycles? With his win in Assen two
weeks ago, Rossi has now won on a 500cc Honda,
a 990cc Honda, a 990cc Yamaha, an 800cc Yamaha and a 1000cc Yamaha.
The Assen win also ended a sequence of 44 races
where he didn't step on the top step of the podium.
Prior to that streak, Rossi had never gone more than
nine starts in the premiere class without a win.
Other Rossi stats from Assen, courtesy of MotoGP statistics man Dr. Martin Raines: Rossi's win
ended a 44-race drought for Italy in the premiere
class – the longest drought for Italian riders since
Luca Cadalora ended a 62-loss streak when he won
the British GP in 1993; the win made Rossi the fourth
Valentino Rossi's win in Assen ended a long
drought for Italian riders.
oldest rider to have won a four-stroke MotoGP behind Troy Bayliss, Alex Barros and Loris Capirossi.
