ben spies wins his 1st ever moto gp race

Ben Spies capitalised on Marco Simoncelli's early crash to cruise to his maiden victory in the Dutch MotoGP.

In damp and overcast conditions in Assen, Simoncelli squandered his pole position on the first lap after a clumsy clash with Jorge Lorenzo.

Both came off before continuing, but it allowed the American to build a lead which he held for a long-awaited win.

Championship leader Casey Stoner finished second to extend his lead to 28 points at the top of the standings.

Honda's Andrea Dovizioso took third place, ahead of Ducati's seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi, who has finished on the podium just once this season.

Spain's Marc Marquez recorded a second Moto2 win to move into second in the Championship standings while Britain's Bradley Smith claimed his second consecutive podium finish, taking third place in an absorbing race.

Championship leader Stefan Bradl, who had finished every race in the top five, crashed with only three laps remaining.

Marquez was involved in a thrilling four-way battle with Bradley Smith, Kenan Sofuoglu and Yuki Takahashi, but the Japanese racer crashed out with only five laps to go.

The Spaniard held off the challenge of Sofoglu, who clinched his first ever podium place, and the valiant Smith.

Smith, who has impressed since joining Moto2, said: "It is great to be on the podium again [for the second race in a row].

"We have improved the bike an awful lot in the wet and and now we have proved we can be second in the dry.

"When it started to rain again and I had the chance of a podium, I just did the sensible thing and brought it home for 16 points."

Another Spaniard, Maverick Vinales, raced to a controversial victory in the 125cc division after the race was red-flagged with 7 laps remaining due to the wet conditions.

But the 16-year-old's victory was upheld as two thirds of the race had been completed, despite his rivals appealing for the race to be suspended sooner.

Luis Salom finished in second, while Sergio Gadea, 19, secured his second podium finish to complete an all-Spanish podium.

There was disappointment for the home fans when Dutchman Jasper Iwema collided with Spaniard Adrian Martin, taking him out of the race.

Assen MotoGP result:

1 Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha 41min 44.659sec

2 Casey Stoner (Aus) Honda at 7.697sec

3 Andrea Dovizioso (Ita) Honda at 27.506sec

4. Valentino Rossi (Ita) Ducati at 30.684sec

5. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati 43.172sec

6. Jorge Lorenzo (Spn) Yamaha at 44.536

7. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha at 1min 08.112sec

8. Hiroshi Aoyama (Jpn) Honda at 1min 10.753sec

9. Marco Simoncelli (Ita) Honda at 1min 24.925sec

10. Toni Elias (Spn) Honda at 1min 26.216sec

Did not finish: Karel Abraham (Cze) Ducati, Randy de Puniet (Fra) Ducati

Moto2 result:

1. Marc Marquez (Spn) Suter 44min 30.409sec

2. Kenan Sofuoglu (Tur) Suter at 2.397sec

3. Bradley Smith (GBR) Tech 3 at 6.418sec

125cc result:

1. Maverick Vinales (Spn) Asprilia 25mins 04.147sec

2. Luis Salom (Spn) Asprilia at 2.555sec

3. Sergio Gadea (Spn) Asprilia at 2.655sec


i watched the 125cc race and it was right to continue, it was their own fault they slowed down and he continued on and into the distance he went

Great result for Spies and an awesome performance from Lorenzo and Stoner. Marco needs to sort his head out and stop making silly errors.

Can't wait for Mugello

Congratulations to Spies, never had him winning that one. I honestly thought Stoner would win just because of Simoncelli's tendency to bottle it.

I didn't know this!

Well done Ben! : )

Solerina

Surely Ben Spies is a future Moto GP world champion, from American Superbike Champion then World Superbike Champion then in his second year on Moto GP he wins his first GP, pretty impressive.It looks like Yamaha are catching up to Honda so Casey Stoner better not do any thing silly and have any more DNFs.Despite Ducati having given Rossi a new frame and engine he's still a bit behind the front runners.Roll on this weekend at Mugello.

It was an impressive performance from Spies, however Assen favours the Yamaha and Simoncelli's accident caused the gap and Ben maintained it.

I still think the Honda is the class of the field and I'm not sure Ben is a consistent enough performer to be a world champion.

Rossi will continue to improve on the Ducati but he's still a long way away from a win.

Roll on Mugello, should be a cracking race