MotoGP - Assen
Monday, June 27th, 2005 at 7:41 pm by angrybob
The MotoGP race in Assen, Netherlands was much better of a race than I thought. Rossi got a bad start, but somehow I knew (we all knew) that he would work his way to the front…and he did. I have to give a golf-clap to Marco Melandri for hanging in there with Rossi for as long as he did. That may have been the longest anyone has hung with Rossi this season after being passed. At no time did ‘The Doctor’ check out of this race. In fact, Melandri started to reel him back in lap by lap towards the very end.
In the post-race interview and in the chatter among the announcers, there was mention of an error on Melandri’s part that put him mysteriously back over one second behind Rossi after hanging on his rear wheel for quite some time. Unfortunately, that was not televised. Whatever error he made proved to be too large to recover.
Some other noteworthy things occured in that race that didn’t involve Rossi (gasp!). First was the podium of Edwards. I have been fairly critical of Edwards this, last, and his first season in MotoGP. Alright, when he was on an Aprilia I knew that the R3 cube was not really competitive, so I cut him some slack. He stated before and after the race that they found a “breakthrough” this weekend in terms of the handling and had high hopes for Laguna to follow.
Nothing would make me happier than to have Edwards to win with the home court advantage back here in the states. I’m not so sure it will happen, but Laguna did launch his 2002 WSBK rally to take the championship. Time will tell if it really was a breakthrough or simply (as people predicted) a great performance on a track he routinely does well at.
Also worth mentioning was Hayden’s fourth place finish. I was embarrassed that the MotoGP announcers mentioned that the was one of People’s “Top 50 Bachelors”. Vanity has no place in MotoGP! 
Regardless, he did a fine job with a great finish.
Anyone notice the bumping and grinding on a couple of the passes? Anyone notice Gibernau shove Hayden out of the way on a left hander to make a pass? Paybacks are a bitch though as I believe Edwards gave gibernau that same puch wide on that same turn to ultimately take third place. I had no problem with this as its part of racing. My point is a lot of people complained when Rossi & Gibernau met in the last turn of Jerez. Yeah, it was a little more drastic, but all the anti-Rossi whiners were in full-force then. I have the same opinion now as I did then. Unless there is a willful intent to take someone out, its part of racing.
Bring on Laguna Seca!!!
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Can’t argue with you, angrybob. I agree with your analysis, opinions, and observations.
But am I the only fan who’s disappointed with Roberts? (I’m disappointed in Suzuki too, but let’s leave that for later.) You would think the veteran would consistently finish in front of his rookie teammate. Or at least beat him every now and then. Currently, after the race at Assen, Roberts is in 19th place with 9 points, while Hopkins is in 14th place with 19 points. Neither being very spectacular on paper, but if one assumes both riders have access to the same equipment and pit lane help, it would be fair to compare their skills on an apple-to-apple basis. Has Roberts just lost the drive and aggression needed in MotoGP, or has his inferior bike taken away his confidence?
I too can hardly wait for Laguna Seca. Nicky and Colin have a definite advantage having raced there before, so I’m looking for them to do well. I’m also curious to see how quickly the other racers become familiar with the track. And then there’s Mladin. How far off will his lap times be from those in the MotoGP race? My advice to Mladin: don’t visit any MotoGP trailers, but concentrate on the AMA race at hand.
If you’ll be going to Laguna Seca, I am so very very jealous!