One of the joys of writing about MotoGP for nothing is that it frees me from the shackles of editorial restraint which often chafe and prevent me from expressing my true feelings, at least regarding subjects for which I have feelings, which aren’t many.
Let’s use Assen as an example. Instead of doing my sworn duty as a mototrashjournaist, I spent the weekend driving 1400 miles and speaking briefly at the memorial service for my oldest childhood friend, since 2nd grade. Had I been slaving away under the heartless Evans Brasfield things would have gotten complicated, Evans might have been inconvenienced, my wages could have been garnished, John Burns might have elected to flame me on MO. Nothing good, and my boy Bobby B is well beyond caring. But if we blow off these milestones, especially the exits, who are we? If we decide that the details of our lives are more important than the people who comprised them, who are we indeed?
So, here are the facts. Top ten at Assen. Top six year to date.
Assen MotoGP Race:
pts
1 25 63 Francesco Bagnaia
2 20 72 Marco Bezzecchi
3 16 12 Maverick Viñales
4 13 41 Aleix Espargaro
5 11 33 Brad Binder
6 10 43 Jack Miller
7 9 89 Jorge Martin
8 8 36 Joan Mir
9 7 88 Miguel Oliveira
10 6 42 Alex Rins
Year to date
- 20 Fabio Quartararo 172 NC = 1
- 41 Aleix Espargaro 151 NC = 0
- 5 Johann Zarco 114 NC = 1
- 63 Francesco Bagnaia 110 NC = 4
5 23 Enea Bastianini 105 NC = 3
6 33 Brad Binder 93 NC = 1
Moto2 Race:
1 25 37 Augusto Fernandez
2 20 79 Ai Ogura
3 16 96 Jake Dixon
4 13 13 Celestino Vietti
5 11 64 Bo Bendsneyder
6 10 21 Alonso Lopez
7 9 14 Tony Arbolino
8 8 16 Joe Roberts
9 7 18 Manuel Gonzalez
10 6 12 Filip Salac
Year to date:
1 C Vietti 146
2 A Fernandez 146
3 A Ogura 145
4 A Canet 116
5 T Arbolino 104
6 J Roberts 97
Moto3 Race:
1 25 71 Ayumu Sasaki
2 20 28 Izan Guevara
3 16 11 Sergio Garcia
4 13 24 Tatsuki Suzuki
5 11 43 Xavier Artigas
6 10 96 Daniel Holgado
7 9 82 Stefano Nepa
8 8 6 Ryusei Yamanaka
9 7 53 Deniz Öncü
10 6 27 Kaito Toba
Year to date:
1 S Garcia 182
2 I Guevara 179
3 D Foggia 118
4 A Sasaki 113
5 J Masia 107
6 D Oncu 98
One thing I’m sure to comment on, under the paragraph entitled “Parity” is the dead heat among the top three contenders in Moto2. Never seen three riders separated by a single point at the top of any chart. Another thing will be your boy Aleix shattering, on lap 15 of the race, the existing all-time lap record at Assen, NOT JUST THE RACE LAP. Up until the moment the all-time record was broken later in the race, Aleix posted the fastest lap ever recorded at Assen, DURING THE RACE. Pretty amazing.
That’s all for now. Need to get started on the mid-season report coming your way on Motorcycle.com in the near future.
Late-Braking MotoGP 