Enough to send some riders in
to change bikes. Then it stopped
again, and those brave enough
to stay out got their reward.
By that time, championship
leader Maverick Vinales (Movis-
tar Yamaha) was long gone. Left
on row four after wet qualifying,
the triple winner, who started the
year looking serenely invincible,
had made his way up to fifth af-
ter 11 of 26 laps, still with a good
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
T
he crystal ball is broken.
The surprises keep on
coming. The champion-
ship just got even closer. And, in
front of some 105,000 adoring
fans, Valentino Rossi won his
115th Grand Prix.
Assen is the only track left on
the calendar from the first year
of the championship in 1949,
yet again, as so often, it proved
potentially pivotal. And this time,
it wasn't the Michelin tires that
caused the unpredictability. Or
only indirectly.
It was the ever-capricious
weather in the far north of the
Netherlands. Rain all Saturday
and on Sunday morning left ev-
eryone guessing on tires. Then
it started to rain in the race itself.
VOL. 54 ISSUE 25 JUNE 27, 2017 P81
Valentino Rossi (46)
continues to impress after
joining this year's growing
MotoGP win list.
