A hundred years of racing in Assen. What an occasion!
Someone should check the contents of all that smoke that hung over the circuit – both Saturday, and Sunday – because we swear we saw T-Rexes on the track! It’s the Netherlands, after all. Things are legal there that wouldn’t be elsewhere.
Moto3:
Reminder: Rosenthaler would be standing in for Moodley, had his arm ridden over during his crash a week ago.
Abruzzo made his debut, subbing for Cruces.
If you watch only one of the Assen races, let it be this one. If we say it was total chaos, we mean it in a Deadpool-found-THE-Mask-and-put-it-on kind of way. A meat-truck-crash-into-the-lion-enclosure way. Accidentally-kicking-a-hornets’-nest way. Black-Friday-TV-specials way.
It started with Pini’s motorcycle bucking as the lights went out, then refusing to start racing like a stubborn mule. Allegedly, it was a ‘clutch issue’.
The bumping and barging, bumpercar-esque racing was there from the get-go, with more of the race being run across blue paint than on the actual black tarmac.
What a treat it was when they cut to the curb-cam just as the train of bikes came flying past at stupid-point-crazy kilometres per hour.
Abruzzo was clapped with a Long Lap Penalty for a shortcut through the final chicane around Lap Seven; this frightened the debutant racer to such an extent that he binned it moments later.
In the final sector during Lap Thirteen, Buchanan and Carraro had a coming-together, which they were discussing quite animatedly while walking away from the scene of the crime.
Three laps later, Buasri’s motorcycle turned sideways as they approached Turn Five, flicking off its rider and toppling onto its side directly in the path of O’Shea. O’Shea, with nowhere else to divert to, had to settle for using both bike and rider as a ramp, taking an elegant – though probably not that gentle – dive into the gravel pit beyond.
After being a menace to the podium positions for most of the race, Quiles pushed a bit too hard, resulting in a quick off-track visit at Turn Ten. He did manage to rejoin, and actually scored a point in the end, courtesy of the myriad crashers throughout the race.
Foggia earned himself a Long Lap Penalty for riding on the green paint too much; surprisingly, a penalty that wasn’t dealt out as much as expected.
With just over a lap to go, absolute chaos erupted through the final chicane. Bikes scattered in all directions, some upright, some horizontal, and some tumbling.
It all started when one rider checked up mid-turn, setting off a chain reaction of evasive maneuvres and contact behind him.
Lunetta, Furusato, and Fernández came off the worse for it, all three crashing out of the race. Of the three, Lunetta had it worst: at some point within the mayhem, he was apparently run over. This resulted in him needing to be stretchered off, groaning in pain.
Furusato was spotted sitting trackside, seemingly uninjured but obviously rattled. Fernández? He vanished, never to be seen again.
At first, the final lap continued on. But as the riders entered the danger zone that was the final sector, the Red Flag emerged. For the front runners, it was almost too late to even notice.
Results were declared after a few minutes, and it was announced that Rueda was the winner, with Muñoz getting second place, and Perrone third – his maiden appearance on the Moto3 podium.
Moto2:
Baltus started the race with a Double Long Lap Penalty after crashing under a Yellow Flag on Friday.
Lap One served us a slice of Mystery Yellow Flags in the final sector. Was it a ghost? Who knows.
On Lap Two, Guevara went off like a low-flying rocket at Turn Eight, his motorcycle tumbling off like it was on a demolition mission.
Binder was told to Drop One Position, for ‘Causing Contact’ on Lap Three.
On the fourth lap, Alonso tumbled off at the final chicane, then proceeded to attempt lifting his bike while lying in the gravel. That’s not how a bench press works, David.
Halfway through Lap Five, Attiepoefpatat crashed.
At the start of Lap Seven, Baltus fell over at the first corner. Being the helpful guys that they are, the media team decided to give us the onboard replay as his bike spun around like an old-school merry-go-round (the type you found in play parks, not the cutesy riding-animals one). We had momentary flashbacks of childhood trauma.
Moments after Baltus, Navarro went sliding through the gravel at Turn Two.
By the end of that same lap, Salač called it quits, escaping to the pits where his face spoke volumes on the pain he was in.
Moreira versus Canet, Round Two: FIGHT!
During the eleventh lap, Binder crashed. He stood in the litter, shoulders slumped, staring at his bike while a swarm of marshals busied themselves on its removal.
Around the same time, but seemingly completely removed from, Huertas crashed at Turn Five. A very typical, simple topple. Very dull.
Kunii crashed on Lap Fourteen, but wasn’t important enough to receive even a second of coverage.
Nearing the end of Lap Fourteen, Öncü also crashed, his bike doing an impressive headstand-spin that reminded of a popular breakdancing move. Seven-point-five out of ten.
Öncü, defeated, lifted and dropped his arms in helpless frustration.
Back to the nail-biting saga of Moreira Hunting Canet. This time, there wasn’t a series of aggressive overtakes and fender-bashing; instead, Moreira latched onto Canet’s tail, and stayed there until, on the penultimate lap, Canet blundered his line through Turn Three. From then on, Canet failed to reclaim the lead.
On the final lap, Ortolá crashed, whereafter he wonkily jogged towards his fallen ride. It looked awkward. We won’t judge, though.
Having kept his rival at bay, Moreira claimed his maiden Moto2 win, becoming the first-ever Brazilian to win an Intermediate Class race. Canet had to accept another second-place finish, while González ended in third.
During the cooldown lap, it was noted that Canet’s screen was broken; at first, people assumed it was him who’d clapped it in frustration post-race, but during his interview in Parc Fermé, Canet explained how it’d broken mid-race, on the fifth (he said sixth, but replays showed it on the fifth) lap.
The replays confirmed the bizarre moment when, seemingly unprovoked, the screen of his bike simply snapped. A strange occurrence indeed.
MotoGP:
‘Retired’ Aleix Espargaró would again race this weekend, holding the seat warm for the injured Marini.
Saturday Sprint Race:
Congrats to Álex Márquez on his sixtieth front-row start, and to Quartararo with his twentieth pole with Yamaha.
Mister Agostini looked ready to jump onto one of the bikes parked on the grid. The mass of buttons on the modern machines might’ve been the only deterrent in this instance.
We don’t know what they all do either, Uncle Ago.
Morbidelli was spotted doing the meditative Frog Pose pre-race. Looked oddly comfortable, to be honest.
On the opening lap, Mir had a crash at Turn Two. It was deemed uninteresting enough not to show us what had occurred.
Riding the demons out of his Yamaha, Quartararo finally pushed it over the edge during the tenth lap, approaching Turn Ten. The tyres cried out in agony, before letting go of the tarmac and sending Quartararo off in a cloud of dust at speeds that should’ve been much more painful than they appeared to have been.
Fabio walked off wearing a perfectly even coat of dust, while cursing everything and everyone.
By the time we got to the final lap, more than half the field had a Track Limits Warning. It’s like they’d confused blue and green, forgetting which was the Touch = Good colour, and which was the Touch = Bad colour.
Both Aldeguer and Acosta upgraded theirs to Long Lap Penalties; while Aldeguer had enough time to take his Long Lap, Acosta did not receive his in time, meaning he was given a three-second time penalty post-race, costing him three positions
Not to sound monotonous, but Marc Márquez won. Again. And brother Álex took second. Again.
Third place went the way of Bezzecchi this time.
Binder managed tenth, falling just shy of the points.
Main Race:
So, this beautiful lady arrived on a bike, then proceeded to sing some AC/DC accompanied by lady dancers in overalls and bra tops, who were joined by their male counterparts (the latter thankfully NOT wearing bra tops), got on a podium, put on a tent, all without missing a beat in the song. Then, she continued to sing the Dutch national anthem to perfection. Ten out of ten, great entertainment!
Also, the sun had come out for the main event.
Bastianini started the main race three positions further back, courtesy of him cutting the nose-hairs off of Rins during Qualifying.
At the start of the race, Morbidelli had a (not so) little Wakey Wobble. This, you’ll see later, did not wake him up sufficiently.
By Turn Five on the opening lap, there was carnage at Turn Five. After much confusion, it was revealed that Oliveira had a Moment, his bike standing up abruptly on the inside of Ogura, resulting in the two riders banging into one another and flailing off the track.
Chantra, who was initially thought to have been involved, merely ran off in an attempt to avoid the mess in front of him, then returned to the race.
Call us crazy, but during Lap Two the Red Flag graphic appeared, yet nobody else seemed to see it. Everything continued like normal, and not a word was uttered about it.
Glitch in the Matrix?
Savadori crashed on Lap Four.
Amidst a heated battle with Acosta, Márquez Junior’s wheels puffed out smoke exiting Turn Five, moments before he was bodily thrown onto the tarmac. Both rider and bike continued off the track, digging up a whole field’s worth of grass along the way.
Álex was whisked off to the Medical Centre for a check-up, and we were later informed that he’d suffered a broken left hand. Like anyone has ever ‘enjoyed’ a broken hand.
Rubbing is Racing, yes?
During Lap Six, Aldeguer was violently flung up into the air by his Ducati like a human-shaped pizza base, clattering down hard in front of Mir. Mir, meanwhile, managed to avoid the rider, but not his motorcycle, and also ended up with the wind knocked out of him.
On the edge of the grass, Aldeguer was on all fours, as Mir came over to give him a back rub, the kind you give someone while asking if they’re ‘alright’. Frankly, Mir looked like he was close to joining Aldeguer.
While swapping paint with his teammate, Morbidelli found himself on the wrong side of the curb through the final chicane. He was quickly given a Long Lap Penalty for Shortcutting, and not losing enough time.
Mixing things up just slightly (not much, really; we’re trying to be optimistic, okay?), the podium ended up looking as such: Márquez (Marc, obviously) in first, Bezzecchi in second (this is the mixed part), and Bagnaia in third (again).
Binder finished in eleventh.
While trying to retrieve a flag from a marshal on his Cooldown Lap, Bezzecchi suffered his only blunder of the day: over-reaching, he toppled off the left side of his Aprilia. Luckily he saved it, and was able to ride back to Parc Fermé.
In Parc Fermé, there stood a strange little pillar with a red button on top of it. The type of button you see in movies with a ‘DO NOT PUSH’ sign over it. Marc Márquez was corralled towards this button, then told to push it.
When he did, fireworks erupted from across the Assen circuit – a celebration of the hundred years we’ve been privileged to race at the venue.
We’re hoping there’ll be at least another hundred years of this.
That concludes one of the most entertaining racing weekends we’ve had thus far in 2025.
We love Assen!
~ Karr
