Rossi wins a thriller of race in Assen after a last corner touch
Valentino Rossi extended his championship lead after a thrilling last corner incident victory involving Marc Marquez and a dramatic motocross move.
The 7 time MotoGP world champion made a brilliant start from pole to lead the race from first corner and stay in the lead but Marc Marquez who crashed in the last two races was determined to get back to winning. Lorenzo who started from 8th made superb start to get into 5th into first corner and was immediately in third behind Rossi and Marquez.
The reigning world champion Marquez who was 0.400secs behind Rossi closed right behind on the leader. From lap 3, Rossi and Marquez were running so tight almost together much to the thrill of the fans and Rossi never let an inch gap to Marquez meanwhile Lorenzo dropped down in pace and was out of contention for his 5th straight win.
The race became more tense as the two riders were all out with Rossi hanging in on the lead without losing a bit and Marquez hanging on his tail waiting for an opportunity.
Marquez finally made the plunge into the lead after 20 laps and 7laps to go but he wasn´t able to shake off Rossi who looked so strong. With 3 laps to go Rossi took advantage of Marquez to steal back the lead with a wild move into a corner and holding around the outside. The following lap Rossi hammered a half a second gap on the Honda rider Marc Marquez.
But Marquez recovered on the last lap again closing on the tail of Rossi with just four corners left and as Assen is famous for, it all brewed to the last chicane where lots of historic victories has taken place.
It was down to the final chicane with Rossi in the lead and getting into the corner with a wider line while Marquez tried to steal the inside from Rossi on the brakes and both riders touched with Marquez pushing Rossi wide and breaking his line skewing with the brakes but clever Rossi just straightened his Yamaha and moto crossed into the gravel cutting the corner with amazing control avoiding a crash and took the chequered flag first with Marquez too running out of track due to his different line into the chicane and steering the bike with brakes.
It was an another epic victory for Valentino Rossi with another dramatic move making his 111th grand prix victory and the 9th in Assen. This race will also be the last Saturday race for ´The Catheral´ Dutch TT.
Controversy erupted about Rossi cutting the corner but Race Direction deemed it as an racing incident and its another feather in Rossi´s hat.
Lorenzo finished a lonely 3rd and this extended Rossi´s championship lead to 10 points.
Another great battle witnessed in this ever exciting MotoGP season with old horse Rossi battling fair and square with young prodigy Marquez.
The next race will be in Sachsenring in Germany.
2015 Grand Prix of Netherlands - Race Results
Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time |
1 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 40´54.037 |
2 | Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | +1.242 |
3 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | +14.576 |
4 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Ducati Team | +19.109 |
5 | Pol ESPARGARO | SPA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | +24.268 |
6 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | CWM LCR Honda | +24.373 |
7 | Bradley SMITH | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | +24.442 |
8 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | +24.656 |
9 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | +26.725 |
10 | Maverick VIÑALES | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | +27.238 |
11 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Octo Pramac Racing | +29.038 |
12 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Ducati Team | +29.418 |
13 | Scott REDDING | GBR | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | +46.663 |
14 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Octo Pramac Racing | +49.305 |
15 | Loris BAZ | FRA | Athinà Forward Racing | +52.396 |
16 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Aspar MotoGP Team | +56.005 |
17 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | +59.857 |
18 | Mike DI MEGLIO | FRA | Avintia Racing | +1´14.513 |
19 | Marco MELANDRI | ITA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1 Lap |
Not Classified | ||||
Alex DE ANGELIS | RSM | E-Motion IodaRacing Team | 3 Laps | |
Eugene LAVERTY | IRL | Aspar MotoGP Team | 11 Laps | |
Stefan BRADL | GER | Athinà Forward Racing | 21 Laps | |
Not Finished 1st Lap | ||||
Hector BARBERA | SPA | Avintia Racing | 0 Lap | |
Jack MILLER | AUS | CWM LCR Honda | 0 Lap |