Casey Stoner has cruised to victory in the Dutch Grand Prix after title rival Jorge Lorenzo was taken out of the race in a first corner crash.
Yamaha rider Lorenzo was collected by an ambitious move from Alvaro Bautista at the first turn, taking out the championship leader.
Lorenzo's demise was Stoner's title gain, moving to equal championship points with Lorenzo at the top of the table with 11 rounds remaining.
The Australian's win wasn't assured, though, until the final 10 laps where he passed Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa. Stoner pounced on a small mistake from the Spaniard to take the lead and ride on to a convincing win.
The victory is Stoner's third win for the 2012 season.
Yamaha's Ben Spies held third place until the start of the final lap before he was passed by Andrea Dovizioso (Tech 3 Yamaha).
Dovizioso's team-mate Cal Crutchlow took fifth place ahead of Nicky Hayden (Ducati) and Hector Barbera (Pramac).
Randy de Puniet took eighth place, the first of the CRT bikes, with Michele Pirro (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Mattia Pasini (Speed Master) rounding out the top 10.
The next round of the MotoGP championship will be held in Germany next weekend.
Results, Assen TT
Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
1 | 25 | 1 | Casey STONER | AUS | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 171.4 | 41'19.855 |
2 | 20 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 171.1 | +4.965 |
3 | 16 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 170.6 | +11.994 |
4 | 13 | 11 | Ben SPIES | USA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 170.4 | +14.775 |
5 | 11 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 169.9 | +22.074 |
6 | 10 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 169.3 | +31.660 |
7 | 9 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 167.4 | +59.107 |
8 | 8 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 167.1 | +1'04.441 |
9 | 7 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | ITA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | FTR | 166.9 | +1'06.980 |
10 | 6 | 54 | Mattia PASINI | ITA | Speed Master | ART | 165.7 | +1'25.087 |
11 | 5 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Came IodaRacing Project | Ioda | 165.3 | +1'32.103 |
12 | 4 | 22 | Ivan SILVA | SPA | Avintia Blusens | BQR | 165.2 | +1'33.797 |
13 | 3 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 163.6 | 1 Lap |
14 | 2 | 77 | James ELLISON | GBR | Paul Bird Motorsport | ART | 163.6 | 1 Lap |
Not Classified | ||||||||
41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 167.0 | 12 Laps | ||
5 | Colin EDWARDS | USA | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | Suter | 155.7 | 19 Laps | ||
68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Avintia Blusens | BQR | 165.6 | 21 Laps | ||
6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 162.0 | 25 Laps | ||
99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 0 Lap | |||
19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 0 Lap | |||
Not Starting | ||||||||
17 | Karel ABRAHAM | CZE | Cardion AB Motoracing | Ducati | 0 Lap |
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