Aron Canet leads home Honda top-five clean sweep

Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) won the Moto3 race, leading a Honda clean sweep of the first five places. The 17-year-old Spaniard took his second Grand Prix win after timing his final-lap attack to perfection to narrowly win a manic 11-rider contest.

Just 0.98s covered the first nine riders at the checkered flag, after late fallers (Adam Norrodin (SIC Racing Team Honda NSF250RW) and Bo Bendsneyder (KTM) reduced the leading group.

Assen’s famous Geert Timmer Bocht chicane has resolved many encounters at the historic Dutch track, and once again it came down to the final braking zone. Canet had worked his way through after a poor start to take his place among the leading riders on the final lap. At the chicane he expertly passed Romano Fenati (Marinelli Rivacold Snipers Honda NSF250RW) to secure the win.

World Championship leader Joan Mir (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) made a mistake near the end of the final lap that allowed Canet, Fenati and Scotland’s John McPhee (British Team Honda NSF250RW) to get past. He crossed the line in ninth to maintain a good points lead over Canet.

Pole-sitter Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Racing Moto3 Honda NSF250RW) made a fine comeback from a mistake at Ramshoek to place fourth, with Jules Danilo (Marinelli Rivacold Snipers Honda NSF250RW) scoring his best result of the season in fifth. Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse Honda NSF250RW) was in the leading group throughout and finished eighth.

Riders now have just a few days rest before the ninth round of the 2017 season gets underway at the Sachsenring in Germany. The German Grand Prix is the final race before MotoGP’s four-week summer break.

Aron Canet

“I’ve always said that this circuit is one of my favorites, along with Le Mans and Austin, and I have shown that with victory today. At the beginning of the race I was a little far back, but I was able to reach the first group again and maintain a good strategy from start to finish. I was able to set myself up very well for the last lap. After overtaking Joan Mir, Fenati got past me, but I planned to take advantage of his slipstream to get the lead on the last corner and it was perfect. This race has increased my self-esteem; I dedicate the victory to my team, as I greatly appreciate the great work they’ve done throughout the weekend.”

Romano Fenati

“It was a great race, the first podium here at Assen. In the last few laps we struggled a lot. At the end, McPhee, Canet and Mir have fought before the long straight and left me the best trajectory. Then, I tried to stay ahead. I knew I hadn't to be first at the last corner but I thought I had enough gap. I didn't consider the wind and Canet was very fast in overtaking me. Anyway, I tried. I am very happy, we recovered points on Mir and we'll try to do better at Sachsenring...”

John McPhee

“After the weekend we’ve had I’m absolutely delighted to be on the podium, so happy for me and the team to pull this result out after such a tough weekend. The race was great fun - starting from nineteenth was quite difficult but we had the rhythm and the pace and we kept chipping away. I realized I was catching the second group and the second group were catching the leaders. So I kept on fighting away and with about five laps to go I thought I could even win the race and that we had a real good chance. I timed everything perfectly going into the last lap in turns nine and ten… I tried to pass Canet and then Canet and Mir ran wide, but to claim the last step on the podium I’m really happy.”