Ai Ogura comes of age..
By Karrbon Copy.
Amidst the speculations and announcements that come with the yearly Musical Motorcycles game, the action at Assen continued to be typically tremendous.
Aren’t we just amazing at alliteration?
Congratulations to the Dutch Grand Prix for winning the auspicious award of Best Grand Prix of 2025!
Moto3:
For the Moto3 race, the Long Lap Penalty Loop was out of commission, courtesy of some overnight downpours which made it a little too moist to safely ride. As a result, all potential Long Lap Penalties would be converted into time penalties post-race.
Salmela volunteered to demonstrate this with his Double Long Lap Penalty – earned for dawdling in Practice – which would now be a six-second post-race penalty.
No Moodley present on Sunday – the South African had suffered a broken hand in his last crash.
During Lap Two, Uriarte (Brian?) was sent on a detour by his GPS through Turn One.
Luckily he managed to find the track again quickly, and continued his race.
Further down the road, amidst a closely-concentrated pack battle, Carpe tagged the rear wheel of Morelli while leaning through Turn Five. This sent Carpe flipping over directly into the path of Cruces. Cruces, focusing on his race, unexpectedly found a rider and a bike blocking his path. With no time and no space to evade the imminent impact, Cruces went ploughing straight over Carpe’s midriff before ending up in the kitty litter.
Before Cruces even hit the ground, Carpe was already on his feet and making a dash for his motorcycle. By the time Cruces was able to glance back to see whether he was okay, Carpe had already lined up and was rejoining the race.
Different stuff, we tell you. Footballers, take note!
Five corners further up the road, Buchanan deserted his bike in favour of a leisurely stroll through the gravel fields, discussing the meaning of life with a group of marshals.
Carraro crashed on Lap Three, allegedly at Turn Five.
Still on Lap Three, Mitani also crashed, though he chose Turn Eleven for his fall.
Meanwhile, we were treated to a lead battle of epic proportions.
Unfortunately for Pratama, he slid out of said battle on Lap Eight, doing a knee-slide away from Turn Four. We know we call them knee sliders, but we doubt this was the intended way to use them.
It took them a while, but eventually Kelso was hit with a Long Lap – er, three-second penalty for his shortcut through the chicane on the opening lap.
Pini was given a three-second penalty for getting too friendly with the green paint. And so was Fernandez, a few laps later.
By the time there were five laps left of the race, Carpe finally surrendered, pitting while seeming quite disgruntled that he had to.
Probably started feeling those bruised ribs and intestines. If not, he will be, soon enough.
Rammerstorfer fell off again, this time on Lap Seventeen, at Turn Five. At least he rejoined.
At the start of Lap Eighteen, Uriarte – Marcos – went skidding off at the first corner.
After a multi-lap, exciting duel for the win, Quiles pipped Almansa to the line, claiming win number six of the season. Almansa was left to be content with second place, while Morelli took third.
Quiles has now officially taken the record for the most points scored in the opening ten rounds of a season. There’s just no slowing down this little pocket rocket, is there?
Moto2:
After the stewards caught him with his front aero not looking the way it’s supposed to, Munoz was disqualified from both qualifying sessions, which meant he had to start the race from dead last.
Good (?) news! By the time the Moto2 grid filled up, the Long Lap Penalty Loop had baked itself sufficiently dry in the warm Dutch sun for it to be navigable once again. This meant that Long Lap Penalties could be served as usual.
Better news! Everybody please sing Happy Birthday to Guevara – he turned twenty-two on race Sunday in Assen.
Roberts blatantly jumped the gun at the start, earning him a double ticket to the Long Lap Loop.
Two crashes happened in short succession on Lap Three.
First was Munos, who tumbled off at Turn Four, ending up curling into a ball like a hedgehog at the edge of the gravel on the other side of the Long Lap Loop.
Second to go was Vietti. He went for a hard roll out of Turn Ten.
Both riders were later carted to the Medical Centre for check-ups.
Furusato was ordered to drop a position for causing some contact.
While navigating Turn Five on Lap Seven, Guevara had a rodeo-wakey-uppy moment.
Escrig and the Long Lap Saga…
First, he was handed a single Long Lap Penalty for exceeding track limits. He failed to serve his penalty, and was upgraded to a Double Long Lapper. Which he again seemed to ignore. This resulted in his penalty being upgraded to a Ride-Through. Which he also did not serve.
By now, some were concerned that he’d not gotten the memo that the Long Lap Penalty Loop was, in fact now open for business.
A few other riders were also caught playing on the green paint, and were handed Long Laps: Holgado and Garcia, as well as Fernandez, the latter not being able to (or choosing not to) take his, as it popped up very close to the end of the race.
Oncu slid out of the race at Turn Ten during the seventeenth lap; he was escorted off by a whole gaggle of marshals, and one unused stretcher.
While Alonso initially looked like he was going to run away with the lead, Gonzalez soon began catching up to him, which resulted in a two-way duel for the lead.
They were later joined by Agius who, we’re sure, had activated Turbo Boost, judging by just how rapidly he was moving forward in the last few laps.
We were treated to a final lap three-way which could easily have won Battle of the Day. This culminated in an outright barging through the final corners, during which Agius most definitely touched the green paint. In fact, he basically touched the grass in the parking lot as he was barged off the track at the last chicane. Luckily for him, the stewards deemed it unworthy of punishment.
Alonso emerged the victor, with Gonzalez taking a butt-hair-close second, and Agius third.
Furusato was handed a three-second penalty post-race for doing a shortcut through one of the chicanes.
In Parc Fermé, Alonso arrived for his interview with a lollipop in his mouth yet again (is this some kind of new sponsor?). During his interview he casually mentioned that Assen was ‘…My worst track of the season…’
His worst? And he did that? Sure thing, David.
MotoGP:
Aldeguer was ruled unfit to race, after a practice crash (pun fully intended) left him with a fractured vertebra. On the flipside, Alex Marquez made his return to racing.
Potentially the biggest change on the grid this weekend was the immediate banning of all holeshot devices, a rule pushed forward after being originally slated for implementation in 2027.
Sprint Race:
Twas a thoroughly enjoyable Sprint Race!
Aprilia locked out the top four grid positions – another first for them – with Martin sitting in pole position, his first time on the Aprilia.
Quartararo opted for a somewhat unconventional way of joining the grid post Warm-Up Lap, the Frenchman pushing his Yamaha into its slot and causing temporary concern over any issues he might have.
He had none.
Keeping traditions alive, Mir went starfishing off the track at Turn Four on the opening lap.
During the second lap Acosta felt the need to show off his high-speed cross-country prowess, leaving the tarmac for a quick run through the gravel, and a return to the tarmac as if nothing had happened.
By the end of Lap Five, Miller was spotted parking his bike in the pits, and disappearing to find a cold one against the sweltering heat and Morbidelli made the acquaintance of Turn Four’s sandpit a bit later.
Up front, it was not the usual suspects fighting it out for the podium – instead, we were treated to an all-round good bit of jousting for those top spots.
Fernandez was the first rider to cross the finish line, an impressive feat considering he had recently been the victim of appendicitis, a close second place went to Ogura, making it the first one-two finish for Trackhouse.
The Ducati fly in the Aprilia stew, Di Giannantonio snapped up third.
Binder managed to finish fourteenth.
Post-race, Bagnaia was ordered to drop one position after the cameras caught him sneaking half a wheel onto the green paint during the final lap.
MotoGP Main Race:
Did we hear that right? Bagnaia’s a dad? Congratulations, Pecco!
Morbidelli started the main race three positions behind his original qualifying spot.
Mir made it a few corners further down the road before he ploughed out of the race at Turn Ten, on the opening lap.
For a while, the biggest action happened from second place downwards. This would change soon, enough…
At the end of Lap Two, Bezzecchi was abruptly ejected from the pack at Turn Fifteen with his Aprilia abandoning him for greener pastures. He went tumbling spectacularly across asphalt, gravel, grass… even managing to run at well over one-hundred kilometres an hour for a bit.
The only reason he stopped tumbling was the fact that there was a wall of tyres in his way.
This marked non-scorer number three in a row for Bez, though we’re relatively sure that was one of the last things he realised after that brain-resetting tumble.
After a brief sitdown against the wall, dazed and confused, Bezzecchi was quickly swooped up and taken to the Medical Centre for a check-up. We would later be informed that he was taken to a local hospital for a more thorough checking up.
On a side note: Who lit a firecracker up Raul’s turpentined arse?!
Morbidelli’s forgettable weekend came to a premature end when he crashed out at Turn Four on Lap Ten.
During Lap Thirteen, as he peeled into Turn One, Acosta suddenly veered from the racing line, coasting momentarily out of the way of the pack while aggressively shaking and flexing his right hand.
The immediate thought on everyone’s minds was ‘not another technical issue!’ It turned out that we all owed KTM a mild apology, it was not their bike failing, but rather their rider’s arm.
Acosta pulled into the pits, and was soon attended to by a physio, complaining of right hand/arm pain and problems.
Not long after Acosta, Toprak peeled down pit lane, retiring from a decent eleventh.
Two laps later, Bagnaia pulled himself away from the racing line, and out of a heated battle, his Ducati clearly not well. He retired to his pit box at the end of the lap.
Another lap later, On Lap Sixteen, Ogura gave fans a mini heart attack when he faltered. He was clearly having trouble with his rear ride-height device, drawing sparks as he turned.
Thankfully it came unstuck again, enabling Ai to continue his epic race.
Amidst a lovely scuffle, Di Giannantonio pushed Marquez – the Marc one – so far of-track through the chicane that he had to do a spot of offroading before returning to the race. Di Giannantonio himself also went out of track limits, and concerns over penalties arose for both of them.
In the end, only DiGi qualified for a Long Lap Penalty.
Back to the race lead: Ogura fended off the other Aprilias in order to claim his maiden MotoGP victory, making him the first Japanese rider to win a Grand Prix race in twenty-two long years. His countryman Makoto Tamada won the Japanese Grand Prix in 2004.
In addition to this, Ogura became the hundred-and-twenty-fifth different rider to claim a Grand Prix win.
Fernandez took second, while Martin rounded off the Aprilia-lockout in third.
Back-to-back Trackhouse one-twos? Something told us nobody in that garage would be leaving Assen without a massive hangover on Monday.
Binder crossed the line in ninth, but an apparent tyre pressure infringement pushed him back to eleventh.
Marquez – the Marc version – was dropped a position post-race for flirting with track limits on the final lap.
Honourary mention to Alex Marquez: having just returned to racing after his nasty injuries, Alex suffered a massive crash on Friday which basically skinned his arm, yet he ran the Sunday race like a man with no injuries at all.
Baggers: Because, why not?
Joe Rascal Racing arrived for the Assen leg of the Bagger Championship with an unusual livery – one dedicated to mental health awareness. We commend them for this.
McDonald, who’d recently lost a friend under mental health related circumstances, is doing a push-up challenge for the same cause. And despite a massive crash on Friday, he took part in the racing.
Race One:
Out of the blocks, Granado nearly launched skyward, his Harley aiming for the ISS instead of Turn One.
Wyman was hit with a Long Lap Penalty during the race – the reason for this was apparently classified.
Near the end of Lap Three, Gutierrez went so wide through Turn Fifteen that he needed to check back in at the entrance gates in order to return to the track.
With four laps to go, Iannone seemed to be having some issues, looking down at his bike as he went backwards a few places. He soon recovered, however, and after the race we would learn that he was suffering from a slippery boot, likely courtesy of a fluid leak.
It’s a Harley, to be fair.
Torres showed us his rodeo skills going through the GT chicane on Lap Seven. A decent secondary career option.
Claiming his maiden win in the class, Granado crossed the finish line and promptly executed a somewhat alien dance. Must be what all the young kids are doing now.
Guttierrez took second place, while Iannone finished third.
During the Cooldown Lap, Granado made a nod to McDonald’s honourable cause by doing a handful of push-ups in full kit at the side of the track. Top marks. Good man.
Later, in Parc Fermé, Iannone’s bike abruptly transformed into an industrial smoke machine, and a mad scramble to get a fire extinguisher into the box commenced. Nothing exploded. Nobody combusted. It was all good.
Race Two:
We had to redirect to Youtube in order to watch the second Bagger race, a rather annoying little niggle.
Apart from Rovelli copping a Long Lap Penalty for what we could only assume was playing outside track limits one too many times, Race Two ended up being the quietest race of the entire weekend.
Nobody crashed.
Bikes did not catch fire.
The racing was good and close, though, the Harleys going sideways more often than they went straight.
Gutierrez claimed the win, which meant he’d now won at all three tracks the Baggers have seen this year.
Second place went the way of Iannone, while Granado finished in third.
There might not have been any crashes in the race, but there was one on the Cooldown Lap!
Lewis toppled off, and while he and a marshal heaved his bike back onto its wheels, another marshal had a crash of his own behind them. That was a ten-out-of-ten faceplant.
Gutierrez’s celebrations continued for so long, he arrived in Parc Fermé a day late.
And so, another flare-smoked Assen Grand Prix weekend came to an end.
That was definitely all just flare-smoke. No other smoke at all. Riiight, Assen?
~ Karr
