Completing his comeback after two heavy crashes on Friday to qualify in fourth place on the grid to win Dutch Grand Prix in Assen. The eight world champion proved to be gritty and competent and dominated the sprint and Sunday standalone race like a surgeon. Despite all the bruises and comebacks, Marc did not appear to be shaken, and drove like a possessed man and played two master classes on defense. His brother, Alex Marquez, his nearest title contender also crashed out of the grand prix, which increased Marc 40 points lead in the championship to 68 (telling of how dominant the weekend was, as dramatic as it was).
Marc lived in the glory whenever Alex lived in pain and aggravation. He was strong in the sprint and was finished just behind Marc and seemed to have more speed. But Sunday gave another story. Having lost positions at the beginning of the race, Alex found himself in a dicey situation with Pedro Acosta, getting hit and forcing him into a hard crash that has knocked out his front brake lever. The result? A damaged hand, a journey to Madrid to have the damaged hand repaired and a big dent to his ambitions of maintaining second position on the standings.
Aprilia, in its turn, made it in style. Marco Bezzecchi kept on top form with the Noale team, on Sunday he immediately followed up his terrific results at Silverstone by showing an equally gutsy performance at the Coppi and Bartali Trophy, splitting Marc from second place. His performance in riding was not a tyre-saving performance but wild speed and pressure. He gave Marc a good scrap in a straight fight and with a little more top end speed at the Ducati, he perhaps would have claimed the victory. New Aprilia lap times testing by Lorenzo Savadori were an improvement and Bezzecchi did the right thing to race with them.
Another name that one can commend is Pedro Acosta. The KTM pilot was able to mingle with the leaders in Sunday grand prix, taking the lead past PeccoBagnaia and headed towards the podium; however, he did not finish in third position but instead at a fourth-place finish. Though by no means is the RC16 expected to excel at Assen it was a good performance. The only bad news? Acosta also had a visit to the hospital after being stung by bee after the race and developing allergic reaction to it. What a misfortune to speak about.
The Dutch GP turned into a disaster to Joan Mir. A crash in the sprint and a crash that ended the race by Fermin Aldeguer translated into zero points and zero happiness to the 2020 world champion. After the race, he had his patience snapped because he knows how far Honda project is placed behind its competitors. The shape of form he showed earlier this year has disappeared, and the weight is taking place.
On the other hand, SomkiatChantra provided his critics with food of thought as he scored his first MotoGP point. That was no fancy pants point finishing in front of factory riders and earning compliments by AleixEspargar Babies, but it was a major boost to the LCR Honda man. Espargar is even claiming that Chantra should be up there in the very top, implying that there is more in the future of the Thai rookie.
Friday, however, was a weekend to forget as far as Ai Ogura was concerned. He did not recover after a fireball crash on Friday, falling again in Q1 and classified ninth in the points in the sprint race but tenth in the main race. His fire of his early-season performance appears to have gone out and unless he can catch at least some of it early enough, it is going to be a long and miserable summer.
Raul Fernandez kept gaining momentum, very silently. Q1 was good, and he failed to finish the race in the sprint with a mechanical issue but he certainly made up for it with the eighth-place finish on Sunday and that was another top 10 on his increasing resume. A productive Michael has come at the opportune time after a rocky begin-
Assen ended up being the domain of Marc Marquez in the end. Where others were struggling against setbacks, crashes and even bees, he was a timely reminder to the paddock as to why he remains the undisputed king of consistency and control.
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