At Round 8’s Assen TT, Maverick Vinales beat Reigning Champion Marc Marquez in a close fight to the finish. Right behind the Championship contenders was Fabio Quartararo. The big story in the race was Valentino Rossi crashing out.
In a fast start, Suzuki’s Alex RIns led from the field but would slip off, giving the lead to Quartararo in the early going. Quartararo then led from Marquez and Vinales. Dovizioso was right behind the lead group in fourth.
VInales quickly realized he was drifting back and made a move to inch closer to Marquez. Meantime, Marquez and Quartararo had a close battle for the lead. Quartararo’s Yamaha SRT would soon fade into the background. Vinales took his time and decided to make his move to take on Marquez by middle of the race.
He waited until 14 laps to go to pounce on
Quartararo and Marquez in one fell swoop. Vinales made a fantastic cut to overtake both Quartararo and Marquez. However, the Repsol Honda man wouldn’t give up so easily, he claimed second from the Yamaha SRT. It was then between Vinales and Marquez in a fight to the finish.With 9 laps to go, the Yamaha rider ran wide going into Turn 1 and fell back to second place, but it was only briefly. He retaliated that same lap and reclaimed the lead. It was the right moment to put his head down, and this time he broke free from Marquez, who decided to play it safe. He would finish 4.854s from Marquez to top the Assen TT.
Marquez’s second place ensured more points in the standings, with Dovizioso managing only a fourth place finish. Marquez is now on 160 points, 44 points clear of Dovizioso.
Dovizioso’s team mate Danilo Petrucci finished sixth at the Assen TT. Both Ducatis engaged in a thrilling battle with Mir and Franco Morbidelli to swap positions several times. In a sprint finish, Dovizioso successfully defended fourth position under the checkered flag and Petrucci took sixth place, just five tenths of a second behind his teammate.
There’s not long to wait for the German GP which runs from 5 – 7 July.
2019 MotoGP Assen TT
results
1 Maverick Viñales Yamaha ESP 40’55.451
2 Marc Marquez Honda ESP 41’00.269
3 Fabio Quartararo Yamaha FRA 41’05.153
4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati ITA 41’09.562
5 Franco Morbidelli Yamaha ITA 41’09.882
6 Danilo Petrucci Ducati ITA 41’10.209
7 Cal Crutchlow Honda GBR 41’13.776
8 Joan Mir Suzuki ESP 41’19.683
9 Jack Miller Honda AUS 41’21.911
10 Andrea Iannone Aprilia ITA 41’22.412
Riders standings
1 Marc Marquez Honda ESP 160
2 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati ITA 116
3 Danilo Petrucci Ducati ITA 108
4 Alex Rins Suzuki ESP 101
5 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 72
6 Fabio Quartararo Yamaha FRA 67
7 Maverick Viñales Yamaha ESP 65
8 Jack Miller Honda AUS 60
9 Pol Espargaro KTM ESP 52
10 Cal Crutchlow Honda GBR 51
