Flawless victory in Assen marks 100 Grand Prix wins for Rossi

Valentino Rossi, once again, gave the master class in Grand Prix racing, as he dominated the Assen TT and brought home his 100th GP victory in classic Rossi style. The first two laps saw 3 different race leaders with Rossi, Stoner and Lorenzo teasing us with another epic battle, but it was not to be. Rossi pulled ahead and enjoyed a pressure-free race leaving Lorenzo and Stoner well spaced-out to claim 2nd and 3rd respectively. A full 23 seconds separated Rossi and Stoner - evidence of the total domination displayed by the Italian uber-racer.

The real action today was the race for 6-12. James Toseland, Randy De Puniet, Mika Kallio, Nicky Hayden, Toni Elias and Loris Capirossi absolutely battled for position - bumping, grinding, swapping paint and pushing one another off track several times. I think every rider in that group suffered an off-track excursion at some point during today's race. The biggest disappointment was Mika Kallio who rode an outstanding race, swapping licks with James Toseland for 6th place, which would have been his best finish yet in his MotoGP career..... had he not crashed out on the last turn before the finish line. Nicky Hayden bettered his best by finishing 9th this session - maybe he's finally getting a handle on that big red Duc.

Repsol Honda had a disastrous day starting with Dani Pedrosa crashing out on the third lap and finding themselves out of the points all together as Dovizioso followed suit several laps later. Bad luck for Repsol, but no injuries reported so we will be seeing them next week at Laguna.

All-in-all, it was a race for the books - not a head-to-head battle, but a smooth, effortless, landmark victory for Valentino Rossi - a man that has landed himself amongst the ranks of the legends and proven himself the best Grand Prix racer the world has ever seen.

1	V. Rossi	Yamaha
2	J. Lorenzo	Yamaha
3	C. Stoner	Ducati
4	C. Edwards	Yamaha
5	C. Vermeulen	Suzuki
6	J. Toseland	Yamaha
7	R. De Puniet	Honda
8	T. Elias	Honda
9	N. Hayden	Ducati
10	L. Capirossi	Suzuki
11	A. de Angelis	Honda
12	M. Melandri	Kawasaki
13	S. Gibernau	Ducati
14	N. Canepa	Ducati
15	Y. Takahashi	Honda
16	G. Talmacsi	Honda

Until next time....

Rubb'er Down

Kristen