Following the six bike accident at the start of the Grand Prix of Catalunya on Sunday, the line up for the
MotoGP grid at the A-Style Dutch TT in Assen on Saturday will not be confirmed until later this week.
Sete Gibernau is definitely ruled out with a broken collarbone while his Marlboro Ducati team-mate
Loris Capirossi hopes to ride. Italian
Marco Melandri will wait until later in the week and even the start of practice on Thursday morning, before making a decision.
When the dust finally settled on the Barcelona race it was American
Nicky Hayden who had opened up a 20 point lead going into this eighth round of the Championship around the re-vamped 2.830 mile Assen circuit in North Holland. Capirossi who shared the lead with him going into Barcelona will be desperate to ride especially as World Champion
Valentino Rossi is on the charge after moving into third place.
The 27-year-old Italian also has a great record at Assen although the new track layout could make the circuit a very different proposition. The Camel Yamaha rider has won three premier class races plus one 125 and 250 race at the famous circuit and he arrives for the race on Saturday after two successive grand prix victories. He'd raced into third place in the Championship despite Yamaha's early season problems and trails Championship leader Hayden by 29 points.
American Hayden riding the Repsol Honda has pushed Rossi hard in the last two races and knows he must retain the early season consistency that has seen him off the podium just once in the first seven races. His team-mate
Dani Pedrosa crashed twice in Barcelona and will be looking to get back on track to improve his fifth place in the Championship at a circuit where he has only won on one occasion.
