Estrella Galicia’s Jack Miller was unfazed by the wet weather conditions at Assen and held off the challenges from Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez to take his debut MotoGP win.
Pramac Ducati’s Scott Redding occupied the final step of the rostrum after a dramatic race, that was red flagged due to rain and a twelve lap restart ensued. Marquez now extends his lead in the championship, as Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi crashed out, and Jorge Lorenzo finished way off the podium in tenth.
The race was initially red flagged because of a heavy rain shower out on the Dutch track, and there was a twelve lap restart once the down pour stopped. Before the race came to an abrupt halt Rossi opted for the harder rear wet tyre and soft front, but then changed to the softer compounds on both the front and back tyres for the quick re-start, and many of the riders followed suit, including Miller.
At the start of the twelve lapper it was Dovizioso who got the hole-shot followed by Rossi and Marquez. It was not a good start for Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa who crashed at De Bult, but managed to remount. The Spaniard was not the only rider to fall on the opening lap of the re-start, Britain’s Cal Crutchlow crashed at Meeuwenmeer.
At the front Rossi was in the lead, after getting the better of Dovizioso, but the Ducati rider also fell in the same place as Crutchlow a lap later. But after a few seconds Rossi also succumbed to the wet conditions and fell unhurt at Mandeveen whilst in the lead.
But Crutchlow was not the only Englishman to take a tumble in the gravel. Monster Yamaha’s Bradley Smith fell after two laps at the super fast Ramshoek with Aleix Espargaro crashing at De Bult.
While all the drama was happening further down the grid, Jack Miller made a move on Marquez at the chicane with nine laps to go to take the lead. Redding was charging ahead and successfully challenged Pol Espargaro for the final podium spot with two laps remaining and overtook the Monster Yamaha bike at Haarbocht to go into third.
Miller managed to hold on to cross the finishing line to be the first Aussie to win a MotoGP race since 2012, with Marquez, Redding, Pol Espargaro and Iannone completing the top five. Monaco-based Eugene Laverty crossed the line in a solid seventh place.
Before the restart, it was initially Redding who got the original hole-shot from the front row, going into Haarbocht but then he was pushed wide allowing Rossi and Dovizioso to go into the lead. But then Redding fell further back down the pack and at the end of the opening lap was down to tenth.
The start of the race was declared wet, and all the riders went with the full wet tyres with Dovizioso and Rossi initially opting for the harder rear and softer front compounds. Hernandez and Redding went for the softer option in both the front and back tyres. It was also the first time the wet Michelin tyres had been used during a MotoGP race this year.
Iannone had to start from the back of the grid because of a penalty that was sanctioned after he collided with Lorenzo during the last round in Spain, but the Italian had a stellar start and on only the second lap was up to seventh.
But further up the grid Hernandez was edging ever closer to the front pair and made a move that stuck on Rossi to go into the lead for the first time this season at Mandeveen, with 24 laps to go.
Petrucci was also making an impact near the front and was up to fourth and had fellow countryman, Dovizioso as his next target. Meanwhile Iannone was still ploughing his way through the wet track and got the better of Marquez to go up to an impressive fifth on lap seven.
Reigning champion, Lorenzo was not having a good race and with eighteen laps to go was way outside the points in eighteenth. Meanwhile it did stop raining when the race started, and the track did dry out a bit. But the dry spell was not to last and on lap nine the rain decided to make a return to the Assen track.
When the heavy down pour descended on to the circuit Dovizioso overtook Rossi coming out of the chicane to go into second on his tenth rotation, and soon the Doctor had Petrucci closing in on him.
But there was heartbreak for Hernandez as he crashed while out in front at Haarbocht with fifteen laps left, and he rejoined in eighteenth. With Hernandez out of contention it paved the way for Dovizioso to take the lead from Rossi, Petrucci, Redding and Iannone. But while in fifth, back row starter Iannone crashed unhurt in the wet conditions.
Petrucci got the better of Rossi with thirteen laps left, to go up to second and Redding was on the tail of Rossi and got underneath him at Ramshoek but that was only to last two corners as Rossi took back third.
But then the red flags appeared on lap fifteen of 26 as the rain started to fall out on the track and the race was brought to an abrupt halt, and a twelve lap restart was declared, with Miller the eventual winner.
