Stoner leaves rivals in his wake for A-Style TT Assen victory

Casey Stoner gave himself, Ducati and Bridgestone a first premier class Assen victory with a superb breakaway from pole.

It would have taken a brave man to bet against Casey Stoner achieving a second consecutive victory after his phenomenal form in practice, qualifying and the Saturday warmup, and the Australian set out his stall early in Assen. The circuit record was passed over to the Ducati Marlboro rider after just two laps, and he improved incrementally as the race went on to take the win.

Stoner´s task was made slightly easier by the absence of Valentino Rossi from the battle for supremacy, the Fiat Yamaha rider crashing on the opening lap after losing the back end of his bike and careering into Randy de Puniet. Rossi returned to action, at times bettering the pace of the frontrunners with the exception of Stoner, but even if he had stayed on track the 2007 World Champion would almost undoubtedly have proved too fast to catch.

Dani Pedrosa was also unable to prevent a second Stoner breakaway in as many races, the Repsol Honda rider going round in isolation after being passed for the lead by his rival. Second place –combined with Rossi´s misfortunes- puts the Spaniard into the lead in the World Championship.
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Rossi´s Assen post-mortem: `I made a mistake´

Valentino Rossi was left bitterly disappointed after a first lap crash in the A-Style TT Assen.

Valentino Rossi, for all his undoubted talents, has never been the best of starters in MotoGP races. Identifying this as an area for improvement, and with the prospect of Assen poleman Casey Stoner making a breakaway at the head of the race, the Fiat Yamaha rider was going all-out in the Netherlands.

Unfortunately for the five-time World Champion, the gamble didn´t quite pay off, as on the opening lap he came unstuck due to a combination of over-exuberance a cold tyre and the tricky first left hander of the race.

`Unfortunately I made a mistake on the first lap, on the first left corner,´ admitted Rossi frankly after the A-Style TT Assen. `I went in too fast with a cold tyre and lost the rear.´
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Stoner unhappy at Donington fans

Reigning world champion Casey Stoner has spoken out after he was booed by sections of the Donington crowd after his victory in Sunday's British MotoGP.

The Australian eased to victory for the second year running but again received a mixed reception on the podium.

"What do they want? Are they here to watch racing? It's not the right way to come to a race track," he said.

"It's nice to see people here in good numbers but not if they're here for the wrong reasons."
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2010: Final year for MotoGP 250cc class

A June 27th meeting of the Grand Prix Commission in Assen, Netherlands concluded with an important announcement: FIM, the governing body of international motorcycle racing, has decided to eliminate the 250cc class from Grand Prix racing.

As of 2011, the 250cc class will be replaced with a new 600 category that will feature 4-stroke engines limited to 600cc and a maximum of 4 cylinders. Fuel regulations will call for the use of unleaded fuel that is restricted to 10 mg/kg of sulfur, down from the current requirement of 50 mg/kg.
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MotoGP: Hopkins not serious after Assen smash

JOHN HOPKINS is conscious, chatting to medics and relatively unscathed after a high-speed smash during today's qualifying session.

The Kawasaki star came off his machine on one of Assen's fastest corners - around 150mph - colliding with the circuit's air fence.
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