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Kai;

Have you dried out yet? After finally getting to see the restart (original coverage was cut off at the restart warm up lap) - I wonder if it was a wise (or equitable) decision to restart that race. It is reasonable to conclude that the 2016 MotoGP Championship will be affected by that decision big time.

Kevin

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Kevin,

 

I drove off at 4.30pm local time and were home at 1.30am this morning - 8 hours of driving and 1 hour for pitshops (and bordershopping - the Europeans/Scandinavians will related to this).

 

I have still to re-watch the races, after catching up on all the QPs today.

 

I think the original decision to stop the race was correct, as we got the real down-pour shortly after (btw those who claimed that it was a "tropical level rainstorm" clearly haven't lived in a tropical area). I think Race Direction and the Marshalls could have been better at assessing the track condition (and maybe waiting just another 5 minutes) before deciding on the 2.55pm re-start time.

 

Valentino clearly admitted that he pushed too hard and the crash was his mistake, but all credit to #JackAssen for pushing when he had nothing to loose.

But in the end it's still a pity to see so many crashes (in fact, everyone in the MotoGP field crashed at least once during the weekend), and it will inevitably impact the championship. It's all but gone for Valentino, I'm afraid.

 

Edit: I also have about 1800 photos to sort and grade from the first two days :blink:

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I detest those super wet races. It's bad enough in F1 but in motorcycle racing it's total BS. Ends up having nothing to do with the bikes or the normal rider skill set - it just becomes a game of chicken and gambling with traction. Blech. To have the championship decided or even strongly influenced by such an event just plain sucks.

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I detest those super wet races....Ends up having nothing to do with the bikes or the normal rider skill set - it just becomes a game of chicken and gambling with traction..To have the championship decided or even strongly influenced by such an event just plain sucks.

 

Hugh;

I couldn't agree with you more. What has been so intriguing is that up until this race, there were three riders who had a chance to win the 2016 Championship. Now with a 24 point gap between Marquez and Lorenzo with Rossi buried 42 points behind Marquez, it's going to be a challenge for Lorenzo and as Kai said, It's all but gone for Valentino. If the Red Flag was the end of the race, we would still have a competitive season with Marquez the leader at 136 points; Rossi in second with 119 points and Lorenzo at 115 (I think if my math is correct).

Kai;

Rossi was pushing for a good reason; if he keeps the bike upright then he's still in the fight with the win, putting him at second in the standings at 128 points to Marquez' 141 with Lorenzo in third at 120 points.

 

Kevin

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Watched the Assen Moto 3 race last night. Wow. It's getting to be pretty common actually that the Moto 3 class is the most exciting of the three. Five riders within 1/10 s at the line....

 

Lots of crashing too which sucks. One rider nearly had his head removed by a flying bike. There's something about Assen. I remember a world super sport race (I think) where someone oiled the track and about six riders flew off the end of the straight at nearly full speed before they could get a flag out. It was brutal.

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Hugh;
I remember watching a Youtube video of that oil soaked race and it was horrific to watch. How no one was killed was a miracle.

As for the Moto3 races, they are the most competitive and Assen was no exception but Binder still has a huge point lead despite that amazing late race save. I don't know how he kept that bike on two wheels during his off track excursion especially with the weather that day.

As a recovering Ducatisti however, there was another Assen race that I'll never forget.
Troy Bayliss was battling Colin Edwards for the 2002 (I think) SBK title with Bayliss winning the first six races of the season and after the first race at Laguna had won 14 races and all but had the title cinched. Then Edwards won the second race there and the order started to reverse. Edwards seemed to win the second half with Bayliss in second or so it seemed. At the penultimate race at Assen, Bayliss pushed too hard to win it and threw his 998 and his hold on the No.1 plate down the track.
I have always had a bad feeling about that track ever since.
Kevin

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