Amid the several contacts during the crazy Dutch Grand Prix in the MotoGP race, the most prominent one was between Honda’s Marc Marquez and Suzuki’s Alex Rins which saw another mighty save from the reigning champion.
From the word go, it was a dogfight in the MotoGP race at Assen with as many as eight riders in the frame for a win and or the podium positions from four different manufacturers in the 26-lap race.
There were several changes for the lead and also the podium positions as were numerous contacts between riders without much damage or crashes. One of the biggest was between Marquez and Rins on Lap 11.
The Suzuki rider punched his way through at Turn 5 taking the inside line but Marquez on the outside didn’t let go, thereby touching Rins and nearly falling down before making yet another mighty save to continue on.
Marquez eventually got Rins on Lap 14 and then went on to win a thrilling grand prix to lead the championship by 41 points. Post-race, Marquez accepted blame for the clash while tried to explain how he managed to save his Honda.
“I don’t know, even me because I just see a photo and it was crazy,” started Marquez. “I remember that…okay Rins, we had contact, he touched me but in the end it was my mistake because I was [on the] outside.
“When you are [on the] outside, you need to understand that who is [on the] inside and has the advantage. I was there and I had the contact and nearly fell down from the bike. I mean the left foot, the left hand, even the clutch level was down.
“On the middle of the straight, I was trying to adjust and it was crazy. After that moment, then also with Maverick, I had another moment in Turn 9 where we had a contact and I [had to] release completely the brake because I had a contact in my right arm.
“I was out of the track, so it was difficult to manage, but in the end we were very smart, very focus and so precise,” he explained. Marquez’s collision with Vinales happened on Lap 20 when both went off and conceded the lead to Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi.
Meanwhile, for Rins who secured his best MotoGP result in second, was extremely happy with the race. “It was incredible because two or three laps before I [had] overtaken Marc,” he said. “I saw [he was] very strong on that corner and I was feeling great.
“I was feeling good and I thought why not [try a move there]? So, I released the brakes and overtook him but on the next [few] laps he overtook me [back] and I [was] saying, ‘wow, it will be a fantastic race’.”