down Bezzecchi for second but
gradually fell into the clutches
of Jack Miller (Lenovo Ducati),
however, a penultimate-lap pass
at the Goert Timmer chicane
didn't go to plan and he ran wide
with Vinales taking the place
back and Miller once again hav-
ing to fend off Red Bull KTM's
Brad Binder.
But neither could fend off the
man of the race, Aleix Espar-
garo. The Spaniard was sublime
following his enforced off-track
excursion, ending lap five in
15th, then charging back up the
order as consistently the fastest
rider on the circuit, breaking the
lap record repeatedly to set the
new benchmark at 1:32.500 on
lap 15.
With one lap remaining,
Espargaro had just disposed of
Pramac Ducati's Jorge Mar-
tin with Binder and Miller 0.6
seconds ahead. As the lap wore
down, so did the gap, and Es-
pargaro seized his chance with
a beautiful double overtake on
Miller and Binder at the final chi-
cane to cross the line fourth and
regain 13 points on Quartararo
in the championship standings
heading into the summer break.
Binder managed to muscle
Miller out of the way in the melee
for fifth, Miller relegated to sixth
despite serving a long-lap pen-
alty, Martin seventh, Joan Mir
(Ecstar Suzuki) in eighth, KTM's
Miguel Oliveira ninth and Mir's
teammate Alex Rins rounding out
the top 10.
Quartararo's no-score tightens
up the championship, his advan-
tage shrinking to 21 points over
Espargaro. Johann Zarco had a
dreadful Assen race in 13th but
ROUND 11 / JUNE 24-26, 2022
TT CIRCUIT ASSEN / ASSEN, HOLLAND
P64
MOTOGP I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Luca Marini got clattered into
by Joan Mir off the start and
would finish a lowly 17th.
Miller goes for the
ultimately unsuccessful
pass on Maverick Vinales
with two laps to go.
