MotoGP title race blown open by brutal Bezzecchi crash

A third place finish for Bezzecchi’s teammate Jorge Martin has vaulted the Spaniard into the lead of the championship.

Just seven points split the factory Aprilia riders while Fabio Di Giannantonio has retained third for Ducati satellite squad VR46.

“That sounds great,” Martin said of taking the championship lead.

“What’s important for me today is that I did a big step compared to yesterday.

“I’m trying always to improve with Aprilia, to try make the bike more to my riding style.

Leading the championship, for me, it’s an amazing feeling. I have been working so hard.”

The Grand Prix of the Netherlands was won by Trackhouse rider Ai Ogura, who led an Aprilia one-two-three ahead of his teammate Raul Fernandez.

It’s the first time that a Japanese rider has won in the MotoGP premier class since 2004 when Makoto Tamada won the Grand Prix of Japan at Motegi for Honda.

“It’s just fantastic,” said Ogura.

“I don’t want to talk so much because there’s not much to talk about.

“I’m just super, super happy for my people. Thanks to everybody.”

😱😱😱

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From second, Ogura got the holeshot into Haarbocht. However, his lead was short-lived as Martin pulled off a switchback at Madijk.

Saturday’s Sprint winner Fernandez dispatched Ogura for second at the end of Lap 1 before Ogura bit back a lap later.

Their battle brought Marquez into the contest for second. He briefly got to second out of Turn 2 before settling into third behind Fernandez.

Their war over second place allowed Martin to skip away to a handy lead.

At the end of Lap 2, Bezzecchi’s RS-GP26 slid out from beneath him at the high-speed Ramshoek.

Bezzecchi and his bike went tumbling through the gravel at high speed, taking him out of fourth place. Thankfully, the Italian was able to walk away from the crash.

Marquez lost third to Ogura at the Geert Timmer Bocht chicane on Lap 5. Fourth became fifth for Marquez on Lap 7 as KTM rider and future teammate Pedro Acosta got by.

Marquez returned serve on Lap 8 entering Turn 1 to retake fourth. Acosta tried to have another crack at Turn 1 on Lap 9 but blew the braking zone and let Francesco Bagnaia through.

Acosta retired out of sixth on Lap 13 with a suspected arm issue.

Having only taken fourth place a few laps earlier, Bagnaia bombed out of contention when his Desmosedici GP26 suddenly slowed out of the first turn on Lap 15 with brake issues.

There were bizarre scenes on Lap 16 when the rear ride height device of Ogura’s Aprilia got stuck. That cost him more than a second having been right on Fernandez’s rear the lap prior.

On Lap 17, Martin surrendered the lead to Fernandez at the chicane. Seconds later, Ogura dispatched the Spaniard for second at the first turn.

The Trackhouse duo began to edge away from the factory Aprilia rider.

On Lap 20, Ogura made the decisive move for the lead on his teammate Fernandez at De Bult.

There were wild scenes at the end of Lap 20 when Di Giannantonio slid up the inside of Marquez at the chicane.

The factory Ducati rider skipped through the gravel trap while the satellite Ducati rider exceeded track limits.

For that clash, Di Giannantonio was given a long lap penalty, which relegated him from fourth to sixth. However, he eventually recovered that lost time to finish just outside the podium.

Marquez was also given a post-race, one-place penalty for exceeding track limits to drop him to seventh.

At the head of the field, Ogura edged away from Fernandez who held off Martin for the second place on the podium.

Di Giannantonio was fourth while Gresini’s Alex Marquez was the surprise packet in fifth. Enea Bastianini (Tech3) was fifth after Marquez was penalised.

Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), Brad Binder (KTM), and Alex Rins (Yamaha) completed the top 10.

Results: MotoGP Grand Prix of the Netherlands, Assen