Motorcycling: Advantage Pedrosa as Lorenzo limps out

Dani Pedrosa’s hopes of wresting back the world title momentum at this weekend’s Dutch MotoGP were increased after Jorge Lorenzo‘s unfortunate high speed crash in practice.

Reigning world champion Lorenzo arrived in Assen with back-to-back wins in Spain and Italy, and the Spaniard had lain down a marker by topping the times in Thursday’s first practice session.

But in the second session, fate – and rain – intervened to leave the Yamaha rider nursing a fractured left collarbone after being flung from his bike at 200 kilometres (124 miles) an hour.

While Lorenzo faces surgery in Barcelona this weekend, Pedrosa will be intent on extending his slim seven point lead in the riders’ standings.

Pedrosa, unlike Lorenzo yet to wear the MotoGP crown after three near misses, is out to take the chequered flag after two close runner-up finishes to his arch-Spanish rival in the last two races.

And Assen holds fond memories for the Honda man.

“I have raced here many times. My win here was my first ever and I have very good memories from that day,” Pedrosa told a pre-race press conference on Wednesday.

He added: “The championship is now closer but there is still a long way to go; we must keep going with the points. It looks like the weather will be a big thing and we’ll just have to adapt to the situation.”

With Lorenzo out of the picture Yamaha’s hopes are represented by multiple former champion Valentino Rossi, who came in fifth in Spain and is optimistic of a good showing in Assen after a positive testing session last week.

“I am very happy about the test in Aragon and I’m looking forward to going to Assen,” the nine-time title winner told the sport’s official website, motogp.com.

“The settings that we tested were positive and I now feel more feeling with the bike, especially when braking. For me it is an important step and I really want to try the new setup on another track.

“I hope that this improvement will help me also to get a better starting position as it is so important to make the best qualification possible. Assen is a great track, I love it and it brings to mind a lot of good memories. We’ll try to leave this good feeling with the track and the bike to improve our results.”

Lying third behind Pedrosa and Lorenzo in the championship battle is Marc Marquez, the 20-year-old rookie who became the youngest ever MotoGP winner at the Grand Prix of the Americas.

Ahead of his first taste of Assen in the top category the Honda new boy, who was narrowly edged out for second by Pedrosa in Catalunya, said: “This is a track I like.

“It will be interesting to see how it is on a MotoGP bike and we’ll pay attention to the weather because that will be the biggest problem this weekend, but anyway we will try to be ready.”

Going into this seventh leg of the MotoGP season P:edrosa leads the riders’ standings on 123 points from Lorenzo (116), Marquez (93), Cal Crutchlow (71) and Rossi (60).