 | « Back to article | Print this article |
MotoGP championship leader Jorge Lorenzo of Spain enjoyed his fourth win of the year with victory in the Dutch TT race at Assen on his Yamaha on Saturday.
In front of a crowd of more than 97,000, Spain's Dani Pedrosa finished in second place on a Honda, while Australia's Casey Stoner was third on a Ducati for his first podium finish this year.
In the 80th edition of the Dutch race, Lorenzo, who was on pole, made a good start to lead his rivals from the first corner, eventually winning by almost three seconds to extend his championship lead to 47 points.
After the 23-year-old Lorenzo, championship runner-up last year, had opened up an early lead on Saturday, Pedrosa and Stoner pegged him back on lap three before Lorenzo eventually shook them off to exert his dominance.
"It is going like clockwork. Jorge is pleased with his machine and is tremendously constant in his pace," team manager Wilco Zeelenberg told Dutch news agency ANP.
Italian Marco Melandri missed the race after the Honda Gresini rider dislocated his shoulder in a crash on Friday.
Last year's winner and Italian world champion Valentino Rossi was also absent after breaking his leg at Mugello, ruling him out for several months.
In the Moto2 category, Italian Andrea Iannone outclassed his rivals as he held the lead throughout to win by a large gap from Spain's championship leader Toni Elias.
Spanish 17-year-old Marc Marquez won the 125cc category with team Derbi, followed by compatriot Nicolas Terol. Making it an all-Spanish podium was Pol Espargaro.