Ai Ogura takes maiden win in wild Assen MotoGP, Marco Bezzecchi crashes heavily
Ai Ogura scored his first MotoGP victory in a dramatic Dutch Grand Prix
Trackhouse Aprilia’s Ai Ogura scored a maiden MotoGP victory in a wild Dutch Grand Prix, as Marco Bezzecchi suffered a heavy crash in the early stages.
For the first since 2004, a Japanese rider stands on the top step of a MotoGP podium, after Ai Ogura beat Trackhouse team-mate Raul Fernandez on Sunday at Assen.
Taking the lead on the opening lap, Ogura would find himself shuffled back to fifth at one stage, and survived a ride height device issue to take the chequered flag 2.004s clear of the field.
It completes back-to-back 1-2s for the Trackhouse team, after Raul Fernandez won the sprint on Saturday at Assen.
Jorge Martin completed an all-Aprilia top three to take the lead in the championship, after team-mate Marco Bezzecchi crashed out heavily on the second lap.
Bezzecch was running fourth when he suffered a fast crash at Turn 15. He has since been taken to hospital for checks.
He is now seven points down on Martin, while VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio is 16 points off the lead, with Ogura well in title contention now after his victory.
Ogura is 25 points down on Martin, while Marc Marquez remains 40 points off the lead at the end of a difficult weekend for the Ducati rider.
At the start of the 26-lap grand prix, Ogura got the holeshot from second on the grid, though polesitter Martin came through at Turn 2.
Fernandez, on the sister Trackhouse Aprilia, moved ahead of his team-mate at the end of the first lap, and looked like the biggest threat for victory.
The leading duo were handed a big advantage by the battle for third, though Ogura would eventually chip into their lead.
However, on lap 16, Ogura suffered an issue with his ride height device and dropped off the back of Martin and Fernandez.
He managed to unlock the device and up his pace again, while Fernandez took the lead at the end of lap 17.
Ogura overtook Martin for second at Turn 1 on lap 18, before taking the lead from Fernandez at Turn 9 two tours later.
He streaked clear of his Aprilia stablemates to claim his first MotoGP win.
Di Giannantonio brushed off a late long lap penalty after shortcutting the last chicane in an aggressive overtake on Marc Marquez to finish fourth.
Alex Marquez was fifth after a bruising Assen weekend on the Gresini Ducati, with Tech3’s Enea Bastianini promoted to sixth after Marc Marquez was penalised for exceeding track limits on the last lap.
Fabio Quartararo was the leading Yamaha in eighth, with Brad Binder (KTM) and Alex Rins (Yamaha) completing the top 10.
Pecco Bagnaia dropped out with brake issues on lap 15, while KTM’s Pedro Acosta was forced to retire due to a physical problem.
Joan Mir (Honda), Franco Morbidelli (VR46) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac) also failed to finish.
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