Today, Casey Stoner, the defending world champion, secured victory at the Assen TT MotoGP, allowing him to tie on points with championship leader Jorge Lorenzo, who fell out on the first lap.
In second place was Stoner’s Honda teammate, Dani Pedrosa, while Andrea Dovizioso from Italy maneuvered past Ben Spies from the United States—last year’s Assen champion—on the final lap to secure third place.
Pedrosa had the lead for over half the race, but Stoner, who began from pole position, passed him with 10 laps remaining, swiftly creating a gap to finish 4.965 seconds in front.
A collision with Alvaro Bautista, another Spaniard, resulted in Lorenzo being taken out; Bautista slid off his bike in the first corner and brought Lorenzo down with him, which disrupted Lorenzo’s opportunity to win four consecutive MotoGPs for the first time in his career.
The crash left Lorenzo’s Yamaha on the ground, surrounded by smoke; however, he appeared uninjured as he walked away from the incident.
Stoner has been on the podium for the past five races at Assen, including a win in 2008 while riding a Ducati.
In last year’s event, Lorenzo also experienced a crash during the opening lap, although he managed to remount and continue the race.
Stefan Bradl, the promising young German rider, crashed out early after starting from the second row, marking his first race DNF in his rookie season.
Meanwhile, Marc Marquez from Spain clinched the Moto2 class title ahead of Italy’s Andrea Iannone and Britain’s Scott Redding.