Rossi may just come good again at ‘Temple of Speed’

Paris – As one of MotoGPs two great surviving stars unexpectedly blazed again last weekend, the other seems to be struggling against the inevitable slide into darkness, but the Dutch Grand Prix tomorrow could offer Valentino Rossi (below) hope.

As the chequered flag fell at the German Grand Prix last Sunday, it seemed inevitable that six-time world champion Marc Marquez had taken it.

He might have missed a year after an awful arm injury, but he had won the last 10 times he had raced at the Sachsenring.

If the same logic applies at Assen, then perhaps Rossi, who has won 10 times at the track, will produce an even bigger surprise.

The Italian has won one more world title than Marquez, but at 42 he is struggling to out-pace father time.

Demoted to the Yamaha satellite team SRT this season, the Italian has not finished better than 10th in the eight races.

He limped in 14th in Germany and sits 19th in the rider standings.

“We need to figure out what happened in Germany and work well to make some improvements before we are back on track this weekend,” Rossi told the Yamaha web site.

Assen’s “Temple of Speed” has long suited Rossi and his last victory, back in 2017, came at the Dutch circuit, giving him the longest winning Grand Prix career.

“Assen is a great track for me,” Rossi said. “I like the layout a lot, it is very flowing. It is somewhere I really enjoy and you always feel some great emotion when riding there.

“So we need to stay positive, concentrate on the final round before the summer break and achieve a good result in Assen.”

SRT’s other regular rider, Franco Morbidelli, will miss the race due to a knee injury and will be replaced by American Garrett Gerloff.

Marquez downplayed surging expectations.

“We have had good results there but of course our situation is different now.”

Championship leader Fabio Quartararo has been picking up points recently in races when he felt he lacked speed on his factory Yamaha, .

“Finishing third at the Sachsenring after a ‘bad’ weekend was good,” he said. –