The Repsol rider finishes second at the Dutch Grand Prix, followed by Andrea Dovizioso, third, and with Hiroshi Aoyama eighth
Another step ahead for Casey Stoner in the MotoGP World Championship as, with a new podium in Assen he has gathered 20 more points in the overall classification, thus increasing his advantage over the second, Jorge Lorenzo, to 28 points. Third was his team mate at the Repsol Honda Team, Andrea Dovizioso, who is now 9 points behind the Spaniard in the standings. Hiroshi Aoyama, who took part in this race with the Repsol livery, had a good performance after his crash yesterday and finished in eighth position.
The race started in a dramatic way, with Dovizioso improving one position at the start and riding the first few metres behind Spies, Simoncelli and Lorenzo, just in front of his team mate, Casey Stoner. When they arrived at the first left-hand corner, Simoncelli overtook Lorenzo and a few metres afterwards he crashed and the Spaniard was not able to avoid him. This incident left the path free for Dovizioso and Stoner, who finished their first lap in second and third, respectively, more than two seconds and a half behind Spies.
In the second lap, Stoner overtook his team mate and, with 25 laps to go, try to catch up with Spies, who was now more than three seconds in front of him, four in the third lap. Both riders were the fastest in the Dutch track, but every time the Repsol rider took a tenth out of the American, Spies would recover the advantage in the next lap. The difference increased lap after lap and the positions remained the same. Ben Spies took his first MotoGP victory ahead of the Repsol Honda Team duo of Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso, who strengthened their positions in the overall standings, which the Australians leads with 28 points over Jorge Lorenzo, who after this race is only 9 points ahead of Andrea Dovizioso, in third.
Dani Pedrosa’s substitute in this race, Hiroshi Aoyama, had a praiseworthy race at “The Cathedral”, the name by which the mythical Assen circuit is known, as starting from the twelfth position of the grid, he recovered four places in the first lap and took the eighth place. The Japanese rider had a lonely race and kept his position until the end, taking eight more points for this track record.
Andrea Dovizioso >> Audio
3rd at 27.506 seg.
“I’m really happy with todays’ podium. It’s a good result for the Championship and also it has come after a complicated race weekend. The track conditions were tough. When we were on the grid, the weather was still unpredictable and the track was not completely dry, so we went for a safe tyre selection, choosing the soft front tyre. This choice influenced my race because when I tried to stay with Casey, I was losing the front and I couldn’t push harder. This is my only disappointment today. Then after 15 laps, a strange vibration on the rear began. It was very annoying and I couldn’t understand what it was. As I had a good margin from Valentino, I rode more carefully to secure the third position. After the race we saw that the front tyre had some issues, which Bridgestone will analyse. Anyway, this second podium in a row and the third so far, shows that in the important moment we are there. Moreover, with today’s result we have reduced the gap from Jorge and consolidated third position in the Championship. I look forward to Mugello next week, the track is fantastic and the spectators are amazing”.
Casey Stoner >> Audio
2nd at 7.697 seg.
“Today we would have liked to challenge for the win but the way this weekend has gone for us I’m really very happy for a podium finish and to take some valuable points. Yesterday we weren’t happy with the bike the set up, so today we made some changes and tried to get some more feeling, but unfortunately in the warm up we didn’t get a proper chance to try it, which meant we started the race with a set up we didn’t really know.
After the crash yesterday I’m a little bit sore, in the middle part of the race I started to have some problems in the left hand corners with the shoulder but in general we knew we didn’t really have the pace to stay with Ben. I tried everything possible to catch him, but he was able to retain the advantage and start to pull some more, so my congratulations to Ben, he rode a great race, but for us it was just important to get points today”.
Hiroshi Aoyama >> Audio
8th at 1:10.753 min.
“First of all I’d like to thank the whole Repsol Honda Team and HRC, and I’m sorry for the accident yesterday! 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. The team did a very good job so thanks again to them as I have had a very nice and special experience riding Dani’s bike. 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!”.
