In a weekend that will surely become the stuff of legend, Yamaha’s lead rider Jorge Lorenzo, after breaking his left collarbone in an enormous highside at Assen on Thursday, underwent surgery in the early hours of Friday morning at Barcelona and returned to the Netherlands the same day, was declared fit to ride on Saturday morning and finished an heroic fifth in the 2013 Dutch TT on Saturday afternoon.
Not only that, his veteran team mate Valentino Rossi pulled a world-class ride out of the bag when it was most needed to record his first MotoGP win since the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2010, ahead of red-hot rookie Marc Marquez (Honda) and on-form Yamaha Tech 3 rider Cal Crutchlow, pushing Honda’s championship leader Dani Pedrosa down to fourth and limiting the damage to Lorenzo’s title campaign to just two points.
It was the nine-times World champion’s eighth win at Assen, his 80th premier-class victory and his 106th Grand Prix win in a career that goes back to 1996, when Marquez was just three years old.
MOTOGP
The Doctor, starting from fourth on the grid, announced his return to winning ways with a decisive pass on Stefan Bradl (who’d started from the front row for the first time in the premier class) in the chicane at the end of lap one. He then proceeded to hunt down the all-conquering works Hondas, disposing of Marquez on lap four, posting the fastest lap of the race on lap five and blitzing Pedrosa a lap later in a move similar to the pass that won him the 2007 Dutch TT.
He went on to take an emotional win by 2.1 seconds, while Marquez, who has shown before that he is no respecter of team seniority, caught up to Pedrosa on lap 18. His first attempt at a pass failed, but he nailed it on the second try, going down to Turn 1 on the next lap.
Even then Pedrosa’s troubles weren’t over as pole-sitter Crutchlow on the satellite Tech 3 Yamaha put on a late charge, leaving Pedrosa in his dust and challenging Marquez for second on the final lap - until his bike touched Marquez’ rear wheel and gave Crutchlow an almighty moment, dropping him back almost two seconds and out of contention.
Nevertheless, he came home almost four seconds ahead of Pedrosa in a ride that will have done him no harm with the powers that be at Yamaha.
But the ride of the day was definitely that of Lorenzo, who ran as high as fourth at one point but slowed in the closing stages as the pain kicked in until he was running three seconds a lap slower than Rossi – but he came home 12 seconds ahead of Bradl to secure 11 championship points that must have looked like a bridge too far on Thursday evening.
RESULTS
1 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha - 41min25.202
2 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda +2.170sec
3 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha +4.073
4 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda +7.832
5 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha +15.510
6 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda +27.519
7 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda +31.598
8 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) ART +32.405
9 Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha +33.751
10 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati +33.801
POINTS after seven of 18 rounds
1 Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda – 136
2 Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha – 127
3 Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda – 113
4 Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Yamaha - 87
5 Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha - 85
6 Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati – 65
7 Stefan Bradl (Germany) Honda – 51
8 Nicky Hayden (United States) Ducati – 50
9 Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Honda – 47
10 Aleix Espargaro (Spain) ART - 44
MOTO2
Title rivals Pol Espargaro and Scott Redding, each on a Kalex, went toe to toe at the Van Drenthe circuit, with Espargaro in front by just 0.117sec (about half a wheel) when it mattered.
Three seconds later, Suter rider Dominique Aegerter, after leading earlier in the race, got the best of a four-way fight for third that saw him, Mika Kallio (Kalex), Estave Rabat (Kalex) and Johann Zarco (Suter) cross the line in just over half a second.
It was Aegerter’s second podium finish after Valencia in 2011.
The first retirement came before the race had even started as 2010 class champion Toni Elias crashed on the warm-up lap. Then, as the lights went out, championship leader Redding quickly dived inside team mates Espargaro and Rabat to grab the lead.
The battle for the lead hit fever pitch on lap eight as Redding dived up the inside of Espargaro, who had retaken the lead, only for both to run wide and allow Aegerter to slip into the lead, to the delight of his team.
As the pace increased, however, he dropped back into a battle with Rabat and Zarco.
Redding took the lead again on lap 20, but Espargaro stuck to him like glue, before challenging into turn 1 at the start of the final lap, and defending at every one of Assen’s 18 corners.
More last-lap drama saw Rabat plummet from third to fifth, handing the final rostrum position to Aegerter on the Suter (from tenth on the grid) while Redding’s team mate Mika Kallio finished fourth.
South African Steven Odendaal (Speed Up) ended a difficult weekend on an upbeat note by coming home safely in 23rd.
RESULTS
1 Pol Espargaro (Spain) Kalex - 39min51.883
2 Scott Redding (Britain) Kalex +0.117sec
3 Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Suter +3.509
4 Mika Kallio (Finland) Kalex +3.656
5 Esteve Rabat (Spain) Kalex +3.993
6 Johann Zarco (France) Suter +4.073
7 Xavier Simeon (Belgium) Kalex +9.095
8 Thomas Luthi (Switzerland) Suter +12.271
9 Jordi Torres (Spain) Suter +13.745
10 Anthony West (Australia) Speed Up +16.268
23 Steven Odendaal (South Africa) Speed Up +45.453
MOTO3
KTM rider Luis Salom increased his championship to 10 points over Maverick Viñales, also on a KTM, who lost the top spot by running wide in the final moments of the race. It was Salom’s third consecutive win and his fourth of 2013. Alex Rins completed an all-KTM podium after leading for many of the 22 laps.
Friday had seen Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra) become the first Portuguese rider to take pole position in any Grand Prix, as well as Mahindra’s first pole for Mahindra Racing. He finished fourth, just ahead of KTM privateer Alex Marquez, after a titanic five-way battle for the lead rider battle for the lead that saw the top five cross the line in less than half a second.
Salom started fourth, having lost provisional pole position after running off the circuit in qualifying. He took second in the early stages of the race before dropping back to fourth position and holding station. His late-race attack - fast becoming a typical Salom strategy - began just three laps from home, as he pulled an impressive move on Marquez for second.
It looked as though Viñales had the race won thanks to the battle behind him, but his wide line on the exit of Ramshoek on the last lap was just the invitation Salom; they crossed the finish line just a tenth of a second apart, with Marquez dropping to fifth as team mate Rins completed the podium.
Rins led for most of the race and by lap 10 had pulled out a lead of 1.3 seconds, but this was quickly slashed as Salom in particular upped the pace of the chasing group.
Salom’s hat trick was only the second time a rider had won three consecutive races in the Moto3 class; ironically, the first was when Viñales won at Assen last year.
South African Brad Binder finished in the middle of an 11-bike dogfight for ninth place, which saw everybody from Alexis Masbou (FTR Honda) in ninth to Lorenzo Baldassari (also FTR Honda) in 20th finish in less than two seconds.
RESULTS
1 Luis Salom (Spain) KTM – 38min20.086
2 Maverick Vinales (Spain) KTM +0.122sec
3 Alex Rins (Spain) KTM +0.282
4 Miguel Oliveira (Portugal) Mahindra +0.378
5 Alex Marquez (Spain) KTM +0.416
6 Jonas Folger (Germany) Kalex KTM +19.646
7 Jack Miller (Australia) FTR Honda +27.688
8 Arthur Sissis (Australia) KTM +27.811
9 Alexis Masbou (France) FTR Honda +34.797
10 Niklas Ajo (Finland) KTM +34.823
15 Brad Binder (South Africa) Suter Honda +35.886
The series will continue with the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring on 14 July.