Valentino Rossi put in one of the outstanding performances of his career aboard his one-off liveried 'Cinquecento' Fiat Yamaha at the Dutch TT today, taking a superb victory from 11th on the grid. His third win of the season is also Yamaha's 150th in total in the premier class of Grand Prix racing. Colin Edwards' was unable to match the outstanding performance of his team-mate today but nonetheless rode a solid race to finish in his grid position of sixth.
After difficulties in yesterday's wet qualifying Rossi was left with a mountain to climb today and, with championship rival Casey Stoner starting from the front row, there was no room for error from the Italian. Rossi made up little ground at the start but after the first couple of laps he found his rhythm and began a spectacular charge to the front, passing rider after rider with a series of bold moves and eventually making his way up to second behind Stoner by lap 12 of 26, setting a string of fastest laps on the way. The seven-time world champion was then faced with the task of closing a gap of almost two seconds to the championship leader but within just a few laps he had done just that and moved to within striking distance of the lead. It was no easy job to pass the Australian however and he made several unsuccessful attempts before finally making a pass stick through the chicane with three laps remaining, eventually crossing the line 1.909 seconds clear.
Edwards meanwhile was unable to capitalise on his fast race pace and, although he was lapping at a similar pace to the front runners throughout, he was unable to close the gap after being caught in traffic at the start. Rossi's maximum-points haul today closes the gap to Stoner at the top of the standings to 21 points, whilst Edwards' ten points see him hold onto seventh at the half-way point of the season.
Valentino Rossi - 1st 42'37.1497"This was an incredible race. I think maybe one of the top five of my career! Clearly starting from 11th is quite lucky for us because I've won a few times from that position, including last year at Sachsenring. Last night I didn't sleep so well and I couldn't have imagined that the race could turn out like this, in fact I was really a little bit worried after the qualifying and didn't know what to expect today!
Once I got going though I saw that I had a great pace and so I just rode as hard as I could to get past everyone because I knew then that I could come back to Casey. When I finally got there I was quite tired, as were my tyres, plus he was riding very well and it was hard to overtake him, but my M1 worked brilliantly today and in the last few laps I was able to go past and win. I have to say a big thank you to Michelin and to my team, because today our package was brilliant and I was able to ride at the maximum. I'm so happy to win here in Assen, it's a special place for me and this is a great emotion! It was nice to have a special livery here as well, in the past I haven't been so lucky with new liveries but hopefully today has turned that around! Congratulations to Yamaha for 150 wins, I am glad that we could celebrate like this!"
Colin Edwards - 6th +15.139"My start wasn't too bad but I got tangled up in a bit of a jumble through the first couple of laps and Pedrosa passed me. Once I got myself sorted I set off with Melandri and Vermeulen in my sights and I thought I'd be able to get past them relatively easily because my pace was pretty good, but I couldn't quite get close enough for a few laps. Eventually I got through them both and really got my head down; I was lapping faster than I have been all weekend and actually at one stage I thought the podium was a possibility.
I was pushing pretty hard to be honest and I had a couple of close moments but I didn't want to settle for sixth. Things were going okay until there was a stage of the race when things started to feel not quite 100% and I had to slack off a little. Towards the end I started to catch Hopkins again and started to get back to a good pace but unfortunately by then he'd pulled a couple of seconds from me and I just ran out of time. Congratulations to Valentino, he rode an incredible race today."
Davide Brivio - Team Director
"This was a fantastic race with which to celebrate Yamaha's 150th win and we couldn't have dreamed of a better race than this after yesterday's qualifying. Valentino was incredible once again and he rode a truly amazing race. The package we had today, with the bike and the tyres working so well, gave Valentino the chance to ride at the maximum so we have to say a big thank you to Michelin, Yamaha and the whole team. It was a great emotion for everyone to watch Valentino ride like this today.
Colin also did a good race and he had a fast pace throughout, although unfortunately he wasn't able to close the gap to the front. He was doing similar times to the leaders though so this is encouraging for the next races. It's going to be a hard fight for the rest of year but we have a lot of motivation. It's been a fun story with Fiat this weekend as well with our special livery and it's definitely a great start to the story of the new Fiat 500!"
Dunlop Yamaha Tech-3 In Dynamic DogfightThe Dutch TT at Assen in the north of the Netherlands provided a dynamic spectacle for the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team as riders Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli were involved in a titanic dog fight with up to six riders for a top 10 finish in an enthralling race won by fellow Yamaha rider, Valentino Rossi in front of over 91,000 fans. It appeared quite possible that both riders may have been able to provide the team with its best result of the 2007 MotoGP World Championship but in the end Tamada had to settle for 13th position while rookie MotoGP rider Guintoli brought his Yamaha M1 home in 14th place in another point scoring finish.
Makoto Tamada - 13th +54.068That was certainly a lot better race than last weekend and I am pretty happy with how it all happened but I really think we could've had a better result. I got a very good start and the bike and tyres felt really good for the first eight or ten laps and we were able to battle with a big group for seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth but then I lost some grip on the right hand side of the front tyre. The left side was fine but I couldn't push as hard as I wanted to. The rear tyre was also good throughout the race but it is a little strange because I've never had any trouble with the front tyre before. Anyway we know now that we are getting closer so we want some better results from now on.
Sylvain Guintoli - 14th +57.718It is still not the result I am wanting but at least we were closer than last week. I wasn't feeling too confident at the start and lost a bit of ground but then I was able to push and make some ground on the big bunch of riders in front of me with Melandri, West, Hofmann, Checa and Tamada. Everything seemed to be going well and I could keep a good pace with them but towards the end I was struggling a bit as the performance of the rear tyre dropped off. I thought I may be able to pass a few riders and I was faster than Makoto and could've passed him but with about three or four laps to go I had to ease off to make sure I brought it home.
Hervé Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager
We were happy to see the sun this morning as we are struggling in the wet but this race has shown that Dunlop have been working hard on development and this is good to see. In the first laps we were strong and it was very satisfying for everyone to see Makoto and Sylvain battling with a big group of riders and putting in faster laps than them but unfortunately in the last laps we couldn't maintain the pace and had to settle for the positions we finished. It was also good to be with other factory bikes for over two-thirds of the race but still it's very frustrating to see them go away at the end. These last two races have been good for Dunlop because they now have a lot of information for wet and dry conditions and we are confident we can make even more progress. Also I would like to offer congratulations to Valentino, Yamaha and the Fiat Yamaha Team for their performance today. It's great to see Yamaha on the top spot again.
Circuit Length: 4555
Temp: 21
Crowd: 91000
Weather: Dry
Race 1 - 26 Laps - MotoGP Assen:1. Valentino Rossi - Yamaha - ITA 42'37.149
2. Casey Stoner - Ducati - AUS 0'1.909
3. Nicky Hayden - Honda - USA 0'6.077
4. Daniel Pedrosa - Honda - ESP 0'10.465
5. John Hopkins - Suzuki - USA 0'13.138
6. Colin Edwards - Yamaha - USA 0'15.139
7. Alex Barros - Ducati - BRA 0'36.075
8. Alex Hofmann - Ducati - GER 0'41.768
9. A nthony West - Kawasaki - AUS 0'43.605
10. Marco Melandri - Honda - ITA 0'43.796
11. Carlos Checa - Honda - ESP 0'43.826
12. Shinya Nakano - Honda - JPN 0'47.896
13. Makoto Tamada - Yamaha - JPN 0'54.068
14. Sylvain Guintoli - Yamaha - FRA 0'57.718
15. Kurtis Roberts - KR212V - USA 1'28.637
Rider Standings: 1. Casey Stoner - Ducati - AUS 185
2. Valentino Rossi - Yamaha - ITA 164
3. Daniel Pedrosa - Honda - ESP 119
4. John Hopkins - Suzuki - USA 94
5. Chris Vermeulen - Suzuki - AUS 88
6. Marco Melandri - Honda - ITA 87
7. Colin Edwards - Yamaha - USA 75
8. Alex Barros - Ducati - BRA 69
9. Nicky Hayden - Honda - USA 57
10. Loris Capirossi - Ducati - ITA 57
11. Alex Hofmann - Ducati - GER 53
12. Toni Elias - Honda - ESP 49
13. Randy De Puniet - Kawasaki - FRA 40
14. Carlos Checa - Honda - ESP 25
15. Shinya Nakano - Honda - JPN 25
16. Makoto Tamada - Yamaha - JPN 20
17. Sylvain Guintoli - Yamaha - FRA 18
Team Standings:1. Ducati Marlboro Team 242
2. FIAT Yamaha Team 239
3. Rizla Suzuki 182
4. Repsol Honda Team 176
5. Honda Gresini 136
6. Pramac D'Antin 122
7. Kawasaki Racing Team 61
8. Tech3 Yamaha 38
9. Konica Minolta Honda 25
10. Honda LCR 25
11. Team Roberts 8
Manufacturer Standings:1. Ducati 188
2. Yamaha 171
3. Honda 149
4. Suzuki 122
5. Kawasaki 56
6. KR212V 8
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