Then Johann Zarco arrived
with a slim band of elastic materi-
al around his right forearm. Arm
pump, he said, forced him to retire
16 laps into the race. “It was worse
because the bike was moving,” he
added, “destroying me. I had the
feeling I was not holding the bike
anymore and before something
bad happened, I had to stop.”
No doubt, Assen is one of the
more physical tracks on the cal-
endar. But KTM Sporting Direc-
tor Pit Beirer didn’t even mention
arm pump when analyzing Zarco’s
performance, instead pointing to
the rapidly disappearing grip from
his rider’s rear tire. Those close
to the team are unimpressed with
the double Moto2 World Champi-
on’s attitude. In May, Beirer gave
Zarco until the end of the fi rst half
of the season to fi nd some speed.
Time is rapidly running out.
This Bike Isn’t For Turning
It was hard to recall a time
when Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso
looked so downbeat during a race
weekend as he did on Saturday.
Equipped with a new chassis,
the Italian spoke of slight im-
provements on corner entry. But
it didn’t address the real issue
at hand: Turning. In cooler tem-
peratures, this isn’t such an is-
sue. But when the heat increased
and grip fell away, all the Ducati
GP19 riders had diffi culties, espe-
cially with high winds on Sunday.
“I had the best bike in my life in
FP3,” said Petrucci. “I could not
handle, could not control (the
bike) in FP4.”
As at Austin, Jerez, and
Mugello, Dovizioso had rescued
a strong result on Sunday from
a listless qualifying and ridden
extremely well. “We took the max-
imum,” he said after Sunday’s
race.
Along with the turning is-
sues, Miller was concerned by the
Ducati inability to use Michelin’s
softest rear tire compound for the
race—a potent weapon of the red
bikes in the past two-and-a-half
seasons. All three GP19s raced on
the hard. “Normally our bike can
make the soft last the longest. But
we can’t do that any more. It’s a
shame,” Miller said.Marquez Making the Difference?
Cal Crutchlow’s repeated is-
sues underline Honda’s concerns.
The Englishman has repeatedly
complained of a lack of front-end
feel throughout 2019. Only when
grip is reduced or the race pace
is slow has he been able to run
up front. The engine braking is-
sues that caused Marc Marquez
to crash out of a comfortable lead
in Austin persist for Crutchlow,
causing him to lose feel and con-
fi dence in corner entry. “I think
Marc is riding harder and bet-
ter than he has before to make
it work so that he is leading the
championship,” said Crutchlow.
“I don't think people understand
how hard he is having to ride to
do that. I know you can’t see it on
TV, but I ride the bike, and I know
how hard he is having to ride to
do it.”60th Anniversary of
Honda RacingHonda celebrated the 60th
anniversary of Honda Racing this
weekend with demo laps. Kun-
imitsu Takahashi, Japan’s fi rst
Grand Prix race winner, rode a
demo lap on Sunday aboard the
factory’s RC142 125cc machine,
Honda’s fi rst World Champion-
ship racebike. Five-time 500cc
World Champion Mick Doohan
rode Eddie Lawson’s title-winning
1989 Rothmans Honda NSR500.
And Moto3 Honda Team Asia
riders Kaito Toba and Ai Ogura
ran a special silver, red and yellow
color scheme to commemorate the
RC142, which debuted at the Isle
of Man TT at Honda’s fi rst Grand
Prix in 1959.Andrea Dovizioso (04) chased leaders Fabio Quartararo (20), Marc
Marquez (93), and Maverick Viñales in vain at Assen, fi nishing fourth
behind them, with handling problems. Photo by Milagro/DPPI Media.
MotoGP Assen
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 49RWRoadracing World, August 2019—51