MotoGP: Jack Miller wins chaotic Dutch TT in rain-affected thriller at Assen as Valentino Rossi crashes out
Rossi was one of three riders to crash out while leading to allow 21-year-old Miller to take his first ever MotoGP win
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Your support makes all the difference.Jack Miller won a dramatic Dutch TT to seal his first ever MotoGP victory in a rain-affected race at Assen that saw three different riders crash out of the lead, including nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi.
21-year-old Miller took advantage of the chaos unfolding in front of him as well as a red flag and restart when severe weather hit the circuit, located south of the city of Groningen, to seize the lead and spark wild celebrations among the Marc VDS Honda team. The Australian, who up until the race had just one MotoGP top-10 finish to his name in the year and a half since his debut, also secured the first victory in the premier class for Marc VDS Honda.
Miller was keen not to get ahead of himself, understanding that the conditions gave him the chance to stand on the top of the podium, but his reaction after crossing the finish line still displayed the raw emotion that a first victory should evoke.
"It was nice just to stay on the bike,” Miller said afterwards.
"It was a wet-weather win, but it is great to have it under my belt and let people know that I can ride a bike."
Britain’s Scott Redding made the best start off the front row in what was declared a wet race after a brilliant performance during Saturday’s qualifying session to lead into the first corner, but the Pramac Ducati rider’s challenge suffered an early setback as he ran wide onto the kerb and slipped back to sixth.
It allowed Rossi to hit the front, but just one lap later the nine-time world champion would have been shocked to see the Aspar Ducati of Yonny Hernandez slip underneath the Yamaha through the long turn three and four double right-hander.
Not only did Hernandez hit the front, he immediately gapped Rossi and the works Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso to lead by over three seconds, but his fairy tale story would come to an unhappy ending. With Dovizioso passing Rossi for second on the start-finish straight, he suddenly found himself leading the race. Hernandez had lost the front as he ran into turn one, and despite dragging himself out of the gravel trap to continue, he was outside of the top 20 with the Colombian holding his head in despair at letting the opportunity slip, before crashing for a second time to end his afternoon.
The Colombian fell as a result of the rain returning, with the Assen track soon resembling a lake with 13 laps still to go. Any hopes Dovizioso had of disappearing into the distance failed to materialise, as the charging Ducatis of Danilo Petrucci and Redding quickly passed Rossi and caught the leading Italian.
With 12 laps remaining, Petrucci hit the front as he dived underneath Dovizioso at the end of the back straight, but by the time he made it round to the finish line to start his next lap, the red flags were out to halt the race as the rain had become too heavy to ensure the riders could compete in a safe manner.
It meant that the race was halted at the end of lap 14, with Dovizioso restarting on pole ahead of Petrucci, Rossi and Redding. The 12-lap race would restart some half an hour later, and in a repeat of Redding’s start, Marc Marquez fired himself up the inside of the field to lead, only to run onto the wet kerb and drop back, allowing Dovizioso to retain the advantage at the front ahead of Rossi, while sadly Petrucci’s challenge was ended by a reliability failure on his Pramac Ducati.
The drama was only just beginning though. Having controlled the race since inheriting the lead from Hernandez, Dovizioso chucked his Ducati down the road at high speed on the fast sweeping section towards the final complex, allowing Rossi to move into the lead with a healthy gap to Marquez. The Italian, winner at Assen last year and victor last time out in Barcelona, was the pre-race favourite amid the changing conditions, but even Rossi – starting in his 250th top tier Grand Prix – is not untouchable.
MotoGP Dutch TT results
1. Jack Miller (Australia) Honda
2. Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda
3. Scott Redding (Britain) Ducati
4. Pol Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha
5. Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati
6. Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati
7. Eugene Laverty (Ireland) Ducati
8. Stefan Bradl (Germany) Aprilia
9. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki
10. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha
11. Tito Rabat (Spain) Honda
12. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda
13. Bradley Smith (Britain) Yamaha
- Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Aprilia
- Michele Pirro (Italy) Ducati
As Rossi exited turn 11 to lean in for the right-hand turn 12, the front of his Yamaha tucked beneath him and he slid into the gravel trap, suffering enough damage to end his race prematurely.
The crash elevated Marquez into an unlikely lead, but an even bigger surprise was around the corner – literally. Just a handful of turns later, the Marc VDS Honda of Australian Miller passed the two-time world champion to seize the lead, and given his previous best result came in a tenth-place finish in Barcelona, the 21-year-old was staring his maiden win in the premier class right in the face.
The former Moto3 runner-up negotiated the final seven laps without drama and pulled away from Marquez to take the chequered flag with a full scale wheelie across the line, with Marquez and Redding completing the podium – the Briton matching his best ever MotoGP result after finishing third at Misano last season.
Having struggled to make any sort of pace in the wet conditions at a track that holds some haunting memories for him, Jorge Lorenzo could only manage to come home in tenth, having been running down in 19th at the time of the red flag, but he did at least make up points on Rossi who lost an additional 20 points to championship leader Marquez.
"This race was all about getting points," said the Spaniard. "Second felt like a victory in these tricky conditions - 20 points will be important in the championship."
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