Publications
Partners
ASSEN, Netherlands - The 2015 Assen TT (MotoGP) will for sure go into the record books as the one that ended most spectacularly with the two leaders so close to disaster.
Yamah's Valentino Rossi had led for most of the race, certainly dominating the second half with the orange Honda of Marc Marquez right on his tail and that's the way it stayed for lap after lap.
ONLY ONE WAY TO GO...
But then... Marquez went through in a devastating pass and held it for a while. Then Rossi came through again and the crowd - all 97 000 - were on their feet. Then screaming as the two bikes touched going into a curve.
Rossi's only route was through the gravel as Marquez fought his bike back into line as a disbelieving crowd cheered Rossi through to the win.
Awesome race, awesome riders.
Third was Jorge Lorenzo.
Marquez, however, was not happy after the race. He believed he should have won because - whatever the circumstances that led to the finish, Rossi cut the corner as he hit the gravel to come out ahead and lift his front wheel as he cossed the line.
He has, of course, a point - perhaps the result will yet be reversed.
How Rossi held his bike upright at high speed through that gravel trap will be debated for years to come.
Reuters ALAN BALDWIN reports:
Yamaha's Valentino Rossi won MotoGP's Dutch TT race from pole on Saturday after a thrilling duel with current MotoGP champion Marc Marquez in which the pair clashed at the final corner.
Rossi extended his championship lead to 10 points, with closest rival and team mate Jorge Lorenzo third after qualifying eighth.
Italian Rossi had led until seven laps from the end, when Marquez squeezed past through the first corner, but Rossi kept on the Honda's tail and re-took the lead with three laps to go.
Marquez then made another move, the two bikes making contact thrugh the final corner and Rossi skimming across the gravel with a front wheel in the air before cutting the corner and rejoining the track to take the chequered flag.
Rossi has 163 points to Lorenzo's 153
MotoGP result
1 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 40 min54.037
2 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda 40 min55.279
3 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 41 min08.613
4 Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati 41 min13.146
5 Pol Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha 41 min18.305
6 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Honda 41 min18.410
7 Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha 41 min18.479
8 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 41 min18.693
9 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Suzuki 41 min20.762
10 Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki 41 min21.275
11 Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ducati 41 min23.075
12 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati 41 min23.455
13 Scott Redding (Britain) Honda 41 min40.700
14 Yonny Hernandez (Colombia) Ducati 41 min43.342
15 Loris Baz (France) Yamaha Forward 41 min46.433
MotoGP points
1 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha - 163
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha - 153
3 Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati - 107
4 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda - 89
5 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati - 87
6 Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha - 77
7 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Honda - 57
8 Pol Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha - 56
9 Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki - 52
10 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda - 47
11 Danilo Petrucci (Italy) Ducati - 44
12 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Suzuki - 38
13 Scott Redding (Britain) Honda - 30
14 Yonny Hernandez (Colombia) Ducati - 28
15 Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati - 16
Moto2 result
1 Johann Zarco (France) Kalex 26min13.410
2 Tito Rabat (Spain) Kalex 26min14.167
3 Sam Lowes (Britain) Speed up 26min15.490
4 Alex Rins (Spain) Kalex 26min17.148
5 Thomas Luethi (Switzerland) Kalex 26min17.940
6 Xavier Simeon (Belgium) Kalex 26min18.455
7 Jonas Folger (Germany) Kalex 26min19.550
8 Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex 26min21.515
9 Alex Marquez (Spain) Kalex 26min21.786
10 Simone Corsi (Italy) Kalex 26min23.080
11 Julian Simon (Spain) Speed up 26min25.159
12 Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Kalex 26min30.947
13 Takaaki Nakagami (Japan) Kalex 26min31.514
14 Randy Krummenacher (Switzerland) Kalex 26min33.878
15 Hafizh Syahrin (Malaysia) Kalex 26min34.304
Moto2 points
1 Johann Zarco (France) Kalex - 159
2 Tito Rabat (Spain) Kalex - 114
3 Sam Lowes (Britain) Speed up - 96
4 Thomas Luethi (Switzerland) Kalex - 89
5 Alex Rins (Spain) Kalex - 87
6 Jonas Folger (Germany) Kalex - 75
7 Franco Morbidelli (Italy) Kalex - 62
8 Xavier Simeon (Belgium) Kalex - 59
9 Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex - 43
10 Julian Simon (Spain) Speed up - 40
11 Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Kalex 37
12 Luis Salom (Spain) Kalex - 36
13 Hafizh Syahrin (Malaysia) Kalex - 34
14 Sandro Cortese (Germany) Kalex 30
15 Alex Marquez (Spain) Kalex - 30
Moto3 result
Miguel Oliveira (Portugal) KTM 37min54.427
2 Fabio Quartararo (France) Honda 37min54.493
3 Danny Kent (Britain) Honda 37min54.544
4 Jorge Navarro (Spain) Honda 37min54.606
5 Romano Fenati (Italy) KTM 37min54.679
6 Enea Bastianini (Italy) Honda 37min54.953
7 Brad Binder (South Africa) KTM 37min54.967
8 Karel Hanika (Czech Republic) KTM 38min15.833
9 Niccolo Antonelli (Italy) Honda 38min15.899
10 John McPhee (Britain) Honda 38min16.090
11 Francesco Bagnaia (Italy) Mahindra 38min16.120
12 Andrea Migno (Italy) KTM 38min16.150
13 Livio Loi (Belgium) Honda 38min16.451
14 Hiroki Ono (Japan) Honda 38min16.631
15 Philipp OEttl (Germany) KTM 38min17.023
Moto3 points
1 Danny Kent (Britain) Honda - 165
2 Enea Bastianini (Italy) Honda - 108
3 Miguel Oliveira (Portugal) KTM - 102
4 Romano Fenati (Italy) KTM - 86
5 Efren Vazquez (Spain) Honda - 76
6 Fabio Quartararo (France) Honda - 74
7 Brad Binder (South Africa) KTM - 66
8 Isaac Vinales (Spain) Husqvarna - 64
9 Francesco Bagnaia (Italy) Mahindra - 55
10 Niccolo Antonelli (Italy) Honda - 49
11 Jorge Navarro (Spain) Honda - 44
12 John McPhee (Britain) Honda - 34
13 Alexis Masbou (France) Honda - 33
14 Karel Hanika (Czech Republic) KTM - 26
15 Andrea Locatelli (Italy) Honda - 21
