Unpredictable conditions in Holland challenge Arai riders, but hard work pays off…
DANI PEDROSA, REPSOL HONDA
Race Position: DNS Championship Position: 6th
Prior to the weekend’s racing at Assen Honda Racing Corporation confirmed that Dani Pedrosa would not race, and for one round only his replacement in the Repsol Honda squad would be Hiroshi Aoyama from the San Carlo Honda Gresini Team. HRC test rider, Kousuke Akiyoshi stepped in to replace Aoyama and ride alongside Marco Simoncelli. Pedrosa is planning a return to action at Mugello.
The race was won by factory Yamaha rider Ben Spies, taking his maiden MotoGP victory, followed by Repsol Honda team-mates Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso.
CAL CRUTCHLOW, MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3
Race Position: 14th Championship Position: 14th
“I’VE PROVED AGAIN I’VE GOT THE SPEED”
With air temperatures only just reaching a cold 13 degrees and earlier rain affecting grip levels, Cal Crutchlow fitted the soft compound Bridgestone front tyre to his Yamaha. He subsequently made the best start of his MotoGP career and ended the first lap in fourth place, showing phenomenal early speed to chase Stoner and Dovizioso. Ignoring the pain of the recovering left collarbone he broke at Silverstone just over two weeks ago, he superbly kept Valentino Rossi at bay until he started to encounter a front tyre grip problem after five laps. Determined to overcome the issue to claim his first top six MotoGP finish, he fought hard to remain in the top six until lap 11 when the problem worsened. He opted to pit for a new front tyre on lap 13 and then set a fast and consistent pace on his way to 14th.
“Looking at the positives I got a fantastic start and for the first few laps I was running close to the front in a MotoGP race for the first time. I felt confident I could keep Valentino behind me but then after about five or six laps I started struggling with the front tyre on the right side. I had no choice but to come in and change it because if I had carried on pushing it was going to be easy to crash and that’s the last thing I need to be doing at the moment. Without that I’ve no doubt I’d have finished fourth but I’ve proved again I’ve got the speed and shown that I can race with the best in this class. It wasn’t the final result we wanted but I can’t change it and I still learned a lot, so now I’m concentrating on Mugello and getting a good result there.”
COLIN EDWARDS, MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3
Race Position: 7th Championship Position: 9th
“TO BE HONEST I’M HAPPY I MADE IT TO THE FINISH!”
Colin Edwards also encountered a front tyre grip issue as the race avoided any repeat of the earlier rain. Once he’d settled into a fast pace, Edwards was comfortably cutting the gap to the Crutchlow and Rossi battle when his front tyre started to lose traction. He held fifth until lap 17 but was unable to hold off Nicky Hayden. Edwards also then encountered a rare arm pump issue caused as he tried to compensate for the muscle damage to his left ribcage suffered in a recent crash at Catalunya. Despite his best efforts the 37-year-old was unable to maintain his pace and he dropped down the order to finish in seventh position.
“That wasn’t an easy race at all and to be honest I’m happy I made it to the finish. I was feeling really good and catching Valentino and Cal when I went through the second corner and lost the front. I thought it was just because I was pushing but the next corner the same thing happened and from that moment it was really difficult. Each time I was in a right-hander I couldn’t turn but that wasn’t my only issue today. After about ten laps I got really bad arm pump. I’ve got no upper body strength with the rib injury from Catalunya, so to compensate I was doing everything with my arms and at one stage, the combination of the two issues meant I thought I was going to have to pull in. It was a case of gritting my teeth and getting some points but we’ll analyse what happened because Ben (Spies) won the race on the soft front tyre. Our bike isn’t set-up completely different, so we'll have to talk to Bridgestone.”
NICKY HAYDEN, MARLBORO DUCATI
Race Position: 5th Championship Position: 5th
“I CAN’T CELEBRATE FIFTH PLACE TOO MUCH…”
Nicky Hayden earned fifth place on a day marked by difficult weather conditions, with cold temperatures resulting in a number of early crashes, including Simoncelli taking out Lorenzo just off the start. The warm-up session was wet, but the track began to dry out before the race, and the riders were forced to change their setups on the grid and replaced their rain tyres with slicks. This is Hayden’s best dry result of the season so far.
“Conditions have been all over the place all weekend, and the race wasn’t any different. We went out with a rain setup, but we saw that it was drying quickly and changed to a complete dry setup on the grid. There were a couple of little wet patches early on, but it was okay. We made a small change for the race, but nothing big. The first lap or two, the tyres heated up and I felt really good. Then I made a couple of early mistakes. I touched a white line and also pushed the front once and had to go straight at the chicane. Colin passed me, and then I managed to drag him back. I can’t celebrate fifth place too much, but it’s my best dry result of the year and puts us fifth in the points.”
Hiroshi Aoyama, riding Pedrosa’s full factory Honda in Repsol colours finished in 8th place and is 8th overall in the championship. He was grateful for the taste of factory machinery;
“First of all I’d like to thank the whole Repsol Honda Team and HRC. It was quite a tough weekend due to the conditions and situation, not ideal to go racing in but we couldn’t do anything about this. We tried our best during this short space of time and I’m happy I enjoyed the race even if in a lot of pain after yesterday’s crash. In the race it was quite tough, but from mid-race I was able to improve lap by lap and achieve good consistency. This experience has taught me things and made me a better rider, I hope one day I can return to this team. Dani will return next race and I am sure he will be happy to be back on his bike!”
Czech rider Karel Abraham was caught out by the conditions, crashing early on and unable to restart, moving him back to 13th in the championship.
Round 8 of MotoGP is at Mugello, Sunday 3rd July.
DANI PEDROSA, REPSOL HONDA
Race Position: DNS Championship Position: 6th
Prior to the weekend’s racing at Assen Honda Racing Corporation confirmed that Dani Pedrosa would not race, and for one round only his replacement in the Repsol Honda squad would be Hiroshi Aoyama from the San Carlo Honda Gresini Team. HRC test rider, Kousuke Akiyoshi stepped in to replace Aoyama and ride alongside Marco Simoncelli. Pedrosa is planning a return to action at Mugello.
The race was won by factory Yamaha rider Ben Spies, taking his maiden MotoGP victory, followed by Repsol Honda team-mates Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso.
CAL CRUTCHLOW, MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3
Race Position: 14th Championship Position: 14th
“I’VE PROVED AGAIN I’VE GOT THE SPEED”
With air temperatures only just reaching a cold 13 degrees and earlier rain affecting grip levels, Cal Crutchlow fitted the soft compound Bridgestone front tyre to his Yamaha. He subsequently made the best start of his MotoGP career and ended the first lap in fourth place, showing phenomenal early speed to chase Stoner and Dovizioso. Ignoring the pain of the recovering left collarbone he broke at Silverstone just over two weeks ago, he superbly kept Valentino Rossi at bay until he started to encounter a front tyre grip problem after five laps. Determined to overcome the issue to claim his first top six MotoGP finish, he fought hard to remain in the top six until lap 11 when the problem worsened. He opted to pit for a new front tyre on lap 13 and then set a fast and consistent pace on his way to 14th.
“Looking at the positives I got a fantastic start and for the first few laps I was running close to the front in a MotoGP race for the first time. I felt confident I could keep Valentino behind me but then after about five or six laps I started struggling with the front tyre on the right side. I had no choice but to come in and change it because if I had carried on pushing it was going to be easy to crash and that’s the last thing I need to be doing at the moment. Without that I’ve no doubt I’d have finished fourth but I’ve proved again I’ve got the speed and shown that I can race with the best in this class. It wasn’t the final result we wanted but I can’t change it and I still learned a lot, so now I’m concentrating on Mugello and getting a good result there.”
COLIN EDWARDS, MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3
Race Position: 7th Championship Position: 9th
“TO BE HONEST I’M HAPPY I MADE IT TO THE FINISH!”
Colin Edwards also encountered a front tyre grip issue as the race avoided any repeat of the earlier rain. Once he’d settled into a fast pace, Edwards was comfortably cutting the gap to the Crutchlow and Rossi battle when his front tyre started to lose traction. He held fifth until lap 17 but was unable to hold off Nicky Hayden. Edwards also then encountered a rare arm pump issue caused as he tried to compensate for the muscle damage to his left ribcage suffered in a recent crash at Catalunya. Despite his best efforts the 37-year-old was unable to maintain his pace and he dropped down the order to finish in seventh position.
“That wasn’t an easy race at all and to be honest I’m happy I made it to the finish. I was feeling really good and catching Valentino and Cal when I went through the second corner and lost the front. I thought it was just because I was pushing but the next corner the same thing happened and from that moment it was really difficult. Each time I was in a right-hander I couldn’t turn but that wasn’t my only issue today. After about ten laps I got really bad arm pump. I’ve got no upper body strength with the rib injury from Catalunya, so to compensate I was doing everything with my arms and at one stage, the combination of the two issues meant I thought I was going to have to pull in. It was a case of gritting my teeth and getting some points but we’ll analyse what happened because Ben (Spies) won the race on the soft front tyre. Our bike isn’t set-up completely different, so we'll have to talk to Bridgestone.”
NICKY HAYDEN, MARLBORO DUCATI
Race Position: 5th Championship Position: 5th
“I CAN’T CELEBRATE FIFTH PLACE TOO MUCH…”
Nicky Hayden earned fifth place on a day marked by difficult weather conditions, with cold temperatures resulting in a number of early crashes, including Simoncelli taking out Lorenzo just off the start. The warm-up session was wet, but the track began to dry out before the race, and the riders were forced to change their setups on the grid and replaced their rain tyres with slicks. This is Hayden’s best dry result of the season so far.
“Conditions have been all over the place all weekend, and the race wasn’t any different. We went out with a rain setup, but we saw that it was drying quickly and changed to a complete dry setup on the grid. There were a couple of little wet patches early on, but it was okay. We made a small change for the race, but nothing big. The first lap or two, the tyres heated up and I felt really good. Then I made a couple of early mistakes. I touched a white line and also pushed the front once and had to go straight at the chicane. Colin passed me, and then I managed to drag him back. I can’t celebrate fifth place too much, but it’s my best dry result of the year and puts us fifth in the points.”
Hiroshi Aoyama, riding Pedrosa’s full factory Honda in Repsol colours finished in 8th place and is 8th overall in the championship. He was grateful for the taste of factory machinery;
“First of all I’d like to thank the whole Repsol Honda Team and HRC. It was quite a tough weekend due to the conditions and situation, not ideal to go racing in but we couldn’t do anything about this. We tried our best during this short space of time and I’m happy I enjoyed the race even if in a lot of pain after yesterday’s crash. In the race it was quite tough, but from mid-race I was able to improve lap by lap and achieve good consistency. This experience has taught me things and made me a better rider, I hope one day I can return to this team. Dani will return next race and I am sure he will be happy to be back on his bike!”
Czech rider Karel Abraham was caught out by the conditions, crashing early on and unable to restart, moving him back to 13th in the championship.
Round 8 of MotoGP is at Mugello, Sunday 3rd July.
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