MotoGP: Assen proves natural tracks easily a match for Tilke clones

The story of the 2011 Dutch Grand Prix is simple: Simoncelli fell off (not riding dangerously) and Lorenzo ran over his bike. Both got up and rode on: Lorenzo finishing mid-field and Simoncelli near the back.

But it was not the usual suspects that benefited: new boys Crutchlow and Spies were the stars.

Crutchlow had an unscheduled pit stop - nothing to do with his shattered collar bone (a feature of his team with Edwards in a similar state) - but a problem with the front end of the bike.

Both Crutchlow and Spies did something unusual: capitalising on their experience at Assen in SuperBikes where both are champions, they eschewed the MotoGP style and sat on the bikes like SBK riders, took SBK lines - which are far more like road-racing lines than MotoGP lines.

The reason they could do that is that Assen is like riding on country roads: like Road America or Watkins Glen in the USA, like Brands Hatch in the UK and like Monza in Italy.

Without the artificial radii of corners introduced in modern purpose built tracks, the two newest riders in the field simply outclassed and outpaced MotoGP champions Stoner, Rossi and Hayden. Lorenzo was quicker on some laps but after his first lap off, he was too far back to make a difference.

Stoner threw everything at every corner, sliding his bike into, in particular, the right-handers but to no avail.

Spies just rode off into what looks like being a future that's every bit as bright as he promised on his first couple of rides last year on a slow bike.