- Lorenzo wins and Stoner on the podium at Assen GP

Despite qualifying third and moving to the front early in the Silverstone race, suspension difficulties for Dani with the current works RC212V had led to him slipping back behind four of his factory rivals and three customer riders. His team-mate Andrea Dovizioso had been runner-up to dominant Lorenzo, which moved the Italian five points ahead of Pedrosa, but still 37 behind the Yamaha man.

The sixth championship round was to be the Dutch TT at the the historic Assen circuit, the latest modification of which ironed out a chicane at the Ruskenhoek section to make that bit once more quite rapid, just as most of the track still remains. Rossi is a seven-time GP winner at Assen, but of course he was absent again. Lorenzo has three past wins under his belt in the support classes, and seven of his current rivals have won here, not including last year’s 250cc winner Hiroshi Aoyama, who was similarly absent. Colin Edwards failed in his bid to win the Assen GP in 2006, but like his team-mate Ben Spies he had won there as a Superbike racer.

Following Aoyama’s crash at Silverstone, his Interwetten Honda was to be ridden here by Kousuke Akiyoshi, more commonly known as a Suzuki test rider who’d had occasional GP outings for them in 2006-08. There was also news of Rossi’s temporary replacement, to appear next time out in Catalunya. Wataru Yoshikawa is a 40-year-old career Yamaha rider, twice winner of the All-Japan Superbike series, and a frequent wildcard entrant through the years when the Superbike World Championship visited Sugo in his home country. Those appearances yielded seven top-six results in the years 1994 to 2000, with a best result of second.

Yoshikawa had run a full season of SBK racing for the Yamaha works team in 1996, finishing ninth overall with more top eight results, including third at Sugo, and a best overseas result of fifth at Albacete in Spain. Perhaps surprisingly, he has only one prior Grand Prix appearance to look back on, this being at the Pacific GP at Motegi in 2002, riding the fuel-injected 990cc Yamaha M1 as it made its first appearance. He qualified 19th and finished 12th.

At Assen there was more talk about the future in relation to Rossi and Yamaha, as it seems his option with them for 2011 is not as generous as might have been expected. With Lorenzo due to get a pay rise, Rossi would remain top dog but in fact with a wage drop. However, it was being said that he’d had a better offer from Ducati, and that a switch to the red machine for Valentino might be realistic.

In the present, practice brought trouble for Gresini Honda rider Marco Melandri. His crash caused a dislocated shoulder, reducing the field to just fifteen. Qualifying gave another front row grid position to Lorenzo, and pole position for the second event in a row. LCR Honda man Randy de Puniet also matched his start position in Britain, with second; with Casey Stoner back near the front in third for Marlboro Ducati.

Track familiarity may well have been a factor in Spies getting his best GP start position to date, as he took a notable fourth on the Tech 3 Yamaha. Marlboro Ducati’s Nicky Hayden stayed consistent with fifth, but the Repsol Honda pair were not quite on their usual pace - Andrea Dovizioso was sixth and Pedrosa seventh. In the absence of Melandri, partner Marco Simoncelli took a best yet eighth, with Edwards ninth.

Aleix Espargaró was tenth on the Pramac Ducati, with his team-mate Mika Kallio in P13. The pair were split by the two Rizla Suzuki men, Loris Capirossi ahead of Álvaro Bautista, the Spaniard with a best yet of P12. The grid was completed by Héctor Barberá, in P14 for the Aspar Ducati team, and Akiyoshi on the fifth of the Hondas.

Pedrosa made a typically good race start from seventh, getting into third place as the field moved away, behind Lorenzo and Spies. Initially with the front wheel getting up from the tarmac, de Puniet’s start saw him drop to seventh, behind Stoner, Dovizioso and Simoncelli, but Randy was quick to get ahead of his fellow Honda customer pilot. Following on were Edwards, Hayden, Kallio, Capirossi, Espargaró, Barberá, Bautista and Akiyoshi.

Lorenzo was setting the fastest lap as the early stages unfolded, his lead already growing with the handy 2010 Yamaha M1 800. As things moved on, the next five made up a group contesting second, with another gap opening behind Spies, Pedrosa, Stoner, Dovizioso and de Puniet. The snaking Assen circuit has varying types of corner, and at the furthest point from the start-finish area is the Mandeveen right-hander, which precedes Duikersloot and the run back towards the line. Dani went inside Ben to take second at Mandeveen.

Spies was apparently not quite able to challenge the leading works riders here. Soon after being passed by Pedrosa, the Tech 3 rider lost a couple of additional places. Haarbocht is the first right-hander, and Stoner got on the inside to pass there. The first left-hander is the long de Strubben loop, and Dovizioso passed on the inside there. Meanwhile, Dani was already beginning to haul in leader Lorenzo, initially leaving Casey behind - but with the Australian also then starting to close.

A few laps into the race, Lorenzo was only just in front of championship rival Pedrosa, with Stoner also quite close behind. Jorge had a harder compound rear Bridgestone tyre than his two pursuers, and now he pushed on again and the other pair seemed unable to match the pace. Half way into the race there was a 1.3s advantage for Lorenzo which he would go on to extend steadily. Sure enough, he went on to take his fourth win from the six races so far this season.

As the race wore on, so the gap between second and third ultimately began to stretch. Pedrosa was therefore the runner-up, with Stoner onto the podium for his first visit this year. The gap behind them had soon been unbridgeable for those contesting fourth, with Dovizioso, Spies and de Puniet getting equally separated, and another great gap opening back to P7. But Spies found some form and closed in on the second works Honda man. Geert Timmer Bocht is the final left-right chicane, immediately preceded by a right-hander, and it was on the brakes for the inside to that right that Ben went past Andrea.

Dovizioso’s pace seemed to have dropped, so that de Puniet also joined in the battle again with his slightly wayward looking Honda. Randy passed Andrea in the same place that Spies had, and they went on in this order until ‘Dovi’ had a try at getting the place back at Haarbocht. Randy had a twitch into the GT chicane, but was still holding onto fifth, while at this stage Ben was beginning to pull away.

The final stages saw more action between de Puniet and Dovizioso. With the LCR rider getting out of shape, his rival went ahead on the inside at the Meeuwenmeer righ-hander, but again the move into the chicane worked for Randy - only for Andrea to get fifth place again on the way out. On the last lap, much the same thing happened at the GT chicane, with de Puniet running wide after making the pass and letting Dovizioso back through. He crossed the finish line ahead of the Frenchman.

Earlier, Simoncelli had lost out to Hayden, who had soon moved clear and was then unchallenged to a final seventh place. Marco was also passed by Edwards, and they were the next finishers, after the Italian fended off Espargaró. There were a few shuffles behind, as Aleix was ultimately tenth, from Kallio, Capirossi and Bautista; and with Akiyoshi well and truly off their pace and lapped.

Dani Pedrosa regained second overall from team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, but now Jorge Lorenzo was 47 points ahead of his closest rival. With three podium results from three starts, Valentino Rossi now found himself caught by Nicky Hayden, who had five scores but no podium results. The season was looking very much like it would be Lorenzo’s, with the 23-year-old Spaniard recording his ninth top class GP win. This put him equal with Sete Gibernau, Loris Capirossi and major rival Pedrosa. Meanwhile, Casey Stoner was closer to where he would expect to be, and this first visit of 2010 was the 70th podium in the class for Ducati. One of these had gone to Bruno Spaggiari on a 500cc machine at Imola in 1972, but the rest have been in the modern era, starting in 2003. Will he be a race-winning contender again in coming races?

Standings after six races: Lorenzo 140; Pedrosa 93; Dovizioso 89; Rossi and Hayden 61; de Puniet 56; Stoner 51; Spies 49; Simoncelli 39; Edwards 34; Melandri 32; Barberá and Espargaró 28.
Yamaha 145; Honda 117; Ducati 81; Suzuki 26.

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