Assen up in the North of Holland, is probably the most written about circuit there is. Everyone loves it, everyone criticises every time the management take a bit away and suggest that it's been somehow emasculated and everyone raves about the cathedral of speed. It's a cracking circuit and anyone who tells you that it's characterless or in any way boring has clearly never been there. And what better place to pass the halfway point of the season?

Practice and qualifying saw the departure of both Loris Capirossi and John Hopkins, both injuring themselves in fast and rather nasty accidents. Thoiugh Capirossi will probably be back for Germany next week, it's unlikely that Hopper's broken ankle and damaged knee will have recovered enough. His season couldn't get much worse really. As far as everyone else went, there were few surprises. Stoner dominated throughout, taking the number one spot in all but one session while Rossi, Pedrosa and Hayden all hung around at the top as well. The Tech3 Yamaha pairing of Edwards and Toseland didn't have such a good time, with Toseland in particular struggling with setup despite this being a circuit he knows well. Or maybe it's because of that, with the lines being so different on a Superbike to a GP machine.

Qualifying, then, saw Stoner on pole from Pedosa and Rossi, with Hayden, de Puniet and Edwards on the second row. Row three was headed up by a recovering but still battered Jorge Lorenzo, followed by Chris Vermeulen and Shinya Nakano. Toseland qualified back in thirteenth while Marco Melandri, who was challenging for the lead for some of last year, languished at the back of the grid again, the likeable and very fast Italian simply unable to gel with the factory Ducati.

Race day was clear and sunny, promising some seriously good racing. And we got it, too. Lights out and while Pedrosa made a superb start, Rossi got bogged down and dropped back several places. Then it all went wrong in turn five as the championship leader got on the power a little too hard and was unceremoniously dumped on his backside, sweeping the unfortunate Randy de Puniet away with him. Though Rossi was able to remount, he did so at the back of the field and with everyting to do.

Halfway through the lap, Stoner blasted past Pedrosa and by the end of the first lap had opened a gap of over half a second. Alex de Angelis, meantime, also fell off, this time unassisted. Shinya Nakano also made a fantastic start, finishing the first lap in fifth place behind Hayden and ahead of his team-mate Dovizioso who had climbed up from eleventh, taking advantage of the turn five melee. Toseland, too, made some ground while Colin Edwards had to stop to avoid hitting Rossi and so found himself nearly at the back of the field in twelfth place.

Up at the front, to be honest, while Stoner's performance was impressive to see it was a little unexciting as the Australian simply cleared off into the distance. With a huge gap between Stoner, Pedrosa and the rest of the pack it was going to take something pretty calamitous to stop Stoner winning or Pedrosa taking second. But further back things were more interesting by far. Two people in particular were worth watching. Valentino Rossi is always spectacular when the chips are down and this was no exception. Hampered somewhat by a bent handlebar and broken gearshift, Rossi nonetheless maintained a cracking pace, turning in lap times not far off those of the leaders as he battled his way back through the field to eventually finish eleventh and take five valuable points. Fellow Yamaha rider Colin Edwards is on something of a roll. And he simply rode the wheels of the Tech3 Yamaha, making smooth, clean passes everywhere and getting up to fourth place in relatively short order. He was able to see Hayden but, though he was closing slowly, it looked as though Edwards would run out of laps before he could challenge hard. But the pace was telling on the Honda and as Hayden exited the final chicane on the last lap he suddenly sat up and moved off the racing line. He had run out of fuel, and Edwards flashed past to take the last step on the podium in sweet revenge for the last time the two Americans had fought to the final corner here.

A race long battle between Vermeulen, Nakano and Dovizioso was spoiled a little when Jorge Lorenzo burst through the middle and split the protagonists up, leaving Dovizioso ahead with Lorenzo snapping at his heels and Vermeulen just prevailing over Nakano. Toseland got something of a tow from Edwards on the way through, dragging him up to ninth. Disappointing by his standards but still seven valuable points to keep him at least in the top ten of the championship. And Sylvain Guintoli rode a brilliant race on the Alice Ducati to take their best result of the season, if not ever.

Next week we're off to Germany. Sachsenring is a funny track, so we'll have to see what transpires. But the season is now past the halfway point and the championship is about as wide open as it gets...

SB

Dutch MotoGP Results

1. Casey Stoner (Ducati)
2. Dani Pedrosa (Honda)
3. Colin Edwards (Yamaha)
4. Nicky Hayden (Honda)
5. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda)
6. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)
7. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki)
8. Shinya Nakano (Honda)
9. James Toseland (Yamaha)
10. Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati)

MotoGP standings (after nine rounds)

1. Dani Pedrosa 171
2. Valentino Rossi 167
3. Casey Stoner 142
4. Jorge Lorenzo 114
5. Colin Edwards 98
6. Andrea Dovizioso 79
7. Nicky Hayden 70
8. James Toseland 60
9. Chris Vermeulen 57
10. Shinya Nakano 57