Rain tarnishes Dutch Grand Prix
Brilliant performances of Pablo Nieto, 2nd, and Héctor Barberá, 3rd. Valentino Rossi finishes third, Nieto retires after loosing the chain of his bike and Elias with problems, finishes 13th
The whole work done during both practice days was worth nothing as the rain showed up early in the morning at the Dutch circuit of Assen. Everything riders and technicians had done in order to tune the bikes was useless and the teams had to work a lot and fast in order to offer their riders an adequate setting for the difficult weather conditions.
In MotoGP, the race was held under a real flood. After a cancelled first start, since the race had been declared dry and the rain showed up only a couple of minutes later, Gibernau hit the front immediately after the race start and following some tussle with Biaggi managed to open a gap, taking the chequered flag in solitary. Biaggi finished second and Valentino Rossi, with some setting problems, wasn’t able to follow the pace of the leading riders having to settle today for the third place. His team-mate Nicky Hayden, on a difficult track and under very complicated weather conditions, took a meritorious eleventh position, ahead of much more expert riders than the young North American Repsol rider.
In the 250cc, today’s race seemed to be a business of four riders: Manuel Poggiali, on the provisional pole, Randy De Puniet, Toni Elias and Fonsi Nieto. But the rain changed everybody’s plans leaving place for riders starting from the back of the grid, such as Guintoli, West, Rolfo and Battaini. After the start, the Repsol rides were first and second, but at the end of the straight Toni Elias went wide in the corner and was passed by several riders. And while Elias was loosing positions due to problems with the settings of his Aprilia, Fonsi tried to defend his place without luck.
First the Australian West and then Battaini and Guintoli. Nieto was passed by several riders, setting him back to the seventh position behind Rolfo. Meanwhile Elias kept on fighting in order to stay among the top fifteen, and Fonsi Nieto finally had to enter the pits on lap seven after loosing the chain of his bike due to a strong skid. His team-mate Elias finished thirteenth in a race won by the Australian West. Sebastián Porto, after a meritorious race under the rain managed to finish fifth, while Héctor Faubel took the chequered flag in seventeenth and Joan Olivé in twenty-third position.
Excellent result in the 125cc for Jorge Martínez Aspar’s pupils, Pablo Nieto and Héctor Barberá, who, after a very intelligent race, managed to get on the podium after a complicated day due to the strong rain that fell over the Dutch circuit. After the usual small incidents in the initial laps, Nieto and Barberá took leading positions while the rest of the pack was staying behind. In the front, the German Steve Jenkner set a very fast pace nobody was able to keep up with.
The only one who tried, the Australian Stoner, crashed while being second, leaving free way for Pablo who was second for the first time in his World Championship career, and for Barberá who clinched his first podium finish of the Championship with the third place. Dani Pedrosa took the start from the pole position of the grid, but he felt very uncomfortable under the rain and preferred not to take any risks and get as many points as possible, thinking about the championship. Despite being sixth during a large part of the race, De Angelis and Luthi passed him in the last lap, setting him back to the eighth place.
