Jorge Lorenzo, the championship leader, continued his remarkable form as he clinched his second consecutive MotoGP victory yesterday at Assen. The Yamaha rider started in pole and never looked like relinquishing his position as he claimed his fourth win from six races with a flawless performance as he led from start to finish. The victory, coming on the heels of his win at Silverstone, allowed Lorenzo to extend his lead at the top of the standings to 47 points.
Reigning champion and crowd favourite Valentino Rossi was absent as he recovers from the broken leg he sustained in Mugello two weeks ago. His young Yamaha teammate now looks the favourite to add the MotoGP crown to the 250cc championships he won in 2006 and 2007. The Spaniard finished nearly three seconds ahead of compatriot Dani Pedrosa, who had started seventh on his Honda, with Casey Stoner, the Australian Ducati rider, in third.
Despite leading from the off and steadily increasing his advantage, Lorenzo insisted his victory was not as comfortable as it appeared. "This race was a bit more difficult than Silverstone because Dani was so fast with the softer tyre early on in the race and I had to really keep my concentration to stay in front of him at that point," he said. "I was confident that my harder Bridgestone tyre would help me later on and this was the case, so we made the right choice.
"It wasn't easy though and at the end I was sliding quite a lot. In fact, I made a mistake at the chicane and nearly crashed so I was quite glad to finish We have a big lead in the championship so we can afford to stay calm and relaxed." Pedrosa, who had struggled in practice and qualifying, said: "I am happy with the result." * PA