Trio battle for supremacy

This weekend round seven of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship will be taking in The Netherlands with the Alice TT Assen, this week gives Valentino Rossi the opportunity to turn up the heat on his title rivals at one of the most popular circuits on the calendar for all riders.

Last year Valentino Rossi had his worst result of the year at the Assen track, Rossi crashed early in the race and then was forced to fight back to a respectable 11th, but he is traditionally a strong performer at Assen with victories to his name in all three categories there, it should be noted that four of those wins were in the premier class.

After the epic battle with Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo in Barcelona Valentino Rossi will aim to maintain his championship momentum with his second win in a row, but the Italian superstar knows that Jorge Lorenzo and Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner, are both tied with the Italian on 106 points at the head of the standings, all riders will also be pushing to the maximum at ‘the Cathedral of motorcycling’.

Jorge Lorenzo also has a good record at Assen, having won there in the 250cc and 125cc classes, the young 22 year-old Spanish star refers to the circuit as his favourite MotoGP venue. Having been beaten by Rossi by just 0.095s in his home Grand Prix Lorenzo will be desperate for revenge in Saturday’s race at Assen.

The Australian and last years Dutch race winner Stoner is likely to be a far stronger victory candidate than in Catalunya where he rode heroically to finish on the podium with an undiagnosed illness, Stoner who finished just in front of Andrea Dovizioso before almost collapsing as he dismounted his Ducati Desmosedici GP9.

Repsol Honda’s Adrea Dovizioso has been fractions of a second off the rostrum in the last three races and should any of the current top three slip up in The Netherlands the young Italian will be there ready to pounce for a podium step.

factory Honda rider, Dani Pedrosa should be in better physical shape than he was in Barcelona where he took sixth place despite riding with the painful right hip injury which he sustained at Mugello in the previous round after a horrific crash.

Veteran American rider Colin Edwards is currently sixth in the standings and the visit to Assen takes him back to the scene of his infamous 2006 crash which saw him miss out on victory on the final corner. Colin Edwards was seventh in Barcelona and is currently enjoying a consistent run of form which puts him at the pointy end of the field.

Also currently occupying top ten championship positions Italian competitors Marco Melandri and Loris Capirossi along with Randy de Puniet and Australian Chris Vermeulen will all be in the hunt for good points at round seven in Assen.

The Suzuki riders will get a second chance to use their new GSV-R 800cc engines which they debuted last time out in the Catalunya contest but unfortunately were not able to use in the important Monday post-race test, whilst a number of teams will continue working with new material which they tested at the Montmeló circuit.

Free practice for the premier class riders at the Alice TT Assen commences on Thursday 25th June at 1.55pm. With the race set for Sunday and what promises to be a major race in the context of the season.