assen 2008 (SPOILER)

so yeah. I'm back. what can I say about the motogp race??? rossi made the race, thats all I have to say to explain the boredom. it was yet again one big parade, as I had expected. the best part of the race was when rossi passed and everyone started to cheer him on to make him go faster and faster. what also was amazing to see was Hayden on his new Honda. what a machine! you could hear the traction control working and his engine made really high noises everytime he passed and had to pull the bike back up. amazing. such a bummer to hear he ran out of fuel and ended up 4th. edwards had a good race tho, so did vermeulen did you guys knew his parents/grandparents are dutch?!

250 race was the best race of the day! Bautista was on a role, he got pole but fell back after the start. he made a brilliant race, and got 1st place. it started to rain a little bit when he overtook Luthi awsome race for him too btw!, but luthi countered and came right back to 1st place and made a small gap. very strange to see that happening, while bautista was going so well.
that barbera dude is strange. he made 3 the same errors on a row where we sat, what an idiot he was to throw his bike back into the field and almost kicking one of the KTM riders of the bike while doing so.

125 was kinda exciting too. bradly got an amazing start till the rain came pooring down on us for like, 3 minutes those 2 crashes you might have seen, were right infront of us, so that was kinda spectacular. congrats for talmasci for riding a smart race

back to my weekend! started thursday morning when me and my dad got on the bike at 8am. met with his friends in Apeldoorn+zwolle and we drove to the camping to put up our tents. got at the track around 11.30am. walked around backstage where we saw these 2 beauties:
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we went to sit at the GT tribune, which was a great spot same spot where Hopkins crashed for the 1st time saw the 125cc practicing too.
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it got really hot at that tribune, so we moved a bit to get a bit more wind. got a terrible sunburn btw, 3 days of staying outdoors is really doing a good job for my tan.
then the motogp came:
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JT! so hoped he would get a podium place this weekend...
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after their practise we went to the new part of the track to see how the tribune is there where the old north-loop was and where the new TT world is now. I must say, it was kinda a let down. you were really far away from the track. REALLY far away! the corner isn't made for overtaking in the bigger classes, maybe the 125cc cause they can take different lines there.
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the TT world building where the old northern loop used to be. really big and box-ish. I know Iron Maiden is going to give a concert on the Assen track this year. they can have more than 25.000 people!
Simoncelli crashed:
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(see how far you are away from the track?)
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Simoncelli
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his bike

let me tell you, I hate camping. the night on thursday-friday I had like 3 hours of sleep all cause of noises from kids, a bad matrass and coldness. so you can imagine I was kinda grumpy the next morning lol. and when you wake up in rain, my mood doesn't get better. we were at the track around 9.30 and sat in the main grand stand, high and dry.
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colin edwards walking outside to check the weather himself. Hopkins was unbelievable. at one point, all the riders where inside in the pitboxes, but he stayed out cause he he has said it himself thought we the crowd didn't came for nothing. but soon it got dry again and we walked to the Winterdijk, where Babelfish sat today. amazing spot, as long as you're higher than the commercial boards on the track:
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Kallio

it was really busy at the track on friday. onbelievable how many people there were.
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Motogp quali started!
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as soon as I noticed the golden helmet, I ignored him. there were Lorenzo stands on the track where you could buy lorenzo-merchandize, and really, no one was there all the times that I passed it!
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obviously we all know Hopkins crashed and got a big injury. his first crash happend right infront of us:
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we, aka the old dudes, decided it was time to go to the 'taluds' to lay down for a little nap a la Matt The Best Man. so we went to the Ruskenhoek, the fastest corner on the track, to see the 250 quali(well, I watched it, the others were asleep)
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after that afternoon we went to Assen. we looked for a nice restaurant and I had the smart idea of going to an Indian restaurant. boy was I wrong I never had indian food before, so thought it would be nice to try out. HOT I tell you! my stomach was upset the entire evening while I was still hungry. met a couple of english people there too, one woman who thought she was the Queen of England and licked the waitors hands very charming! that night I saw the Dizzy mans band and Uriah Heep. those old dudes from Uriah Heep were just cheap sell outs of Ozzy Osbourne. they made a new CD and asked the crowed not to make any pics+movies of their little performans, cause they didn't want to see it on youtube dude, you know when you're old when you're making requestes like that.

today started pretty good, compaired to friday. had a decent 5 hours of sleep with help from some good sollid earplugs. woke up at 7am to find out that it was raining again. we stayed in the cafe at our camping till 9.30am, had a nice breakfast there. went to the track, arrived just in time to see a part of the warm up. after the warm up the TT had a nice surprise for us! all the riders came by in open cars!
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NH + pedro
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De angelis + Nakano
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Vermeulen
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Lorenzo + Rossi
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JT + edwards (they were right behind Lorenzo+ Rossi and I was kinda cheering for them so was a bit too late to take the pic )
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all fun and party with Melandri + stoner
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Guintoli + elias

so just got home you might wonder what happend with meeting up with neil. well, I got a text message from him on friday night that said that his luggage was still in London while he was already in Amsterdam and that we should meet up today, cause he would arrive in Assen too late on friday. by the time I had time to text neil where he was at the track after the race, he was already in the city. so we didn't met.

best pick up line of Assen 2008 used on me: 'do you want to take a closer look at my zipper?'

great pictures mari

Was that Schwantz with Vermeulen?

Wow. Suzuki is worse off than I thought.

hey, thanks mari! I love forum members' race reports, and you always put lots of details and pics.

brilliant pics and write up Mari!
I might try to get to Assen next year!

Fantastic pictures and an interesting narrative. I am surprised that was the best pick-up line directed at a woman of your obvious style and class.

Thanks a lot mari! I am sooo jealous!

Great pics!!!!!!

I didn't take any pics, my brother did. Assen was really great!!!!
I can't wait to go again next year! Too bad we didn't see Rossi win like he did last season, but he still did a GREAT job overtaking Melandri and Elias!! He was like 20 seconds behind Melandri, and he still managed to overtake him. I wasn't sure he would, but I was clocking (??) the gap between him and Melandri every lap, and he was really pushing so hard. I loved it that the crowd cheered him on!!

(@ Marijke: Waar zat je nou precies?)

Well i'm back from my trip to Assen and i loved it. The track and facilities are incredible, the stands are immaculate and views good everywhere. The track looked brilliant, the first half is a bit slow but the second (old part) is breathtaking stuff.

We camped locally, at a sight run by a guy who rides the world MX championship, it was one of the quieter sites around thankfully as i value my sleep. I've seen a lot of drunkern rowdy behaviour this weekend but it was all fun and good natured, a great atmosphere.

I was unfortunate enough to see Hoppers qualifying crash which was a stomach turner but thankfully his injuries are not as bad as they could have been. We've experience all kinds of weather this weekend but non of it stopped the track action from being exciting (except the damp 20 minutes or so where only hopper circulated).

On raceday i saw the most bikes i've ever seen in my life in one place, and was taken back by the scale and significance of the TT that locals up to 100km away come out to watch the fans leave, have a bbq and wave. Kids on the street had banners requesting wheelies and all the motorway bridges and service stations were full, fantastic stuff.

Crossing at Calais made the driving fairly hard (on my dad), not made easier when we fell victim to VW's self locking "security" mechanism which locked our car shut with the keys inside. It was along day but all worthwhile. I'd recommend Assen to anyone who hasn't been, but particularly to Brits who can get over for not a lot of money mroe than Donningtonj costs. If you do go, do everything in your power to get seats in the Geert Timmer Tribune, its leagues ahead.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Tom @ Jun 29 2008, 01:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Well i'm back from my trip to Assen and i loved it. The track and facilities are incredible, the stands are immaculate and views good everywhere. The track looked brilliant, the first half is a bit slow but the second (old part) is breathtaking stuff.

We camped locally, at a sight run by a guy who rides the world MX championship, it was one of the quieter sites around thankfully as i value my sleep. I've seen a lot of drunkern rowdy behaviour this weekend but it was all fun and good natured, a great atmosphere.

I was unfortunate enough to see Hoppers qualifying crash which was a stomach turner but thankfully his injuries are not as bad as they could have been. We've experience all kinds of weather this weekend but non of it stopped the track action from being exciting (except the damp 20 minutes or so where only hopper circulated).

On raceday i saw the most bikes i've ever seen in my life in one place, and was taken back by the scale and significance of the TT that locals up to 100km away come out to watch the fans leave, have a bbq and wave. Kids on the street had banners requesting wheelies and all the motorway bridges and service stations were full, fantastic stuff.

Crossing at Calais made the driving fairly hard (on my dad), not made easier when we fell victim to VW's self locking "security" mechanism which locked our car shut with the keys inside. It was along day but all worthwhile. I'd recommend Assen to anyone who hasn't been, but particularly to Brits who can get over for not a lot of money mroe than Donningtonj costs. If you do go, do everything in your power to get seats in the Geert Timmer Tribune, its leagues ahead.
I know!!! It's great, isn't it!!!

I've never been to other GP's in my life, so I can't possibly compare them, but I know ASSEN RULES!!!! I'll try to go every year from now on, but I should also go to other GP's. Maybe Sachsenring, that's also not too far from Holland.

Did you improve your Dutch??

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Franco Fangio @ Jun 29 2008, 01:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Great pics!!!!!!

I didn't take any pics, my brother did. Assen was really great!!!!
I can't wait to go again next year! Too bad we didn't see Rossi win like he did last season, but he still did a GREAT job overtaking Melandri and Elias!! He was like 20 seconds behind Melandri, and he still managed to overtake him. I wasn't sure he would, but I was clocking (??) the gap between him and Melandri every lap, and he was really pushing so hard. I loved it that the crowd cheered him on!!

(@ Marijke: Waar zat je nou precies?)
I sat at the Stekkenwal, part AL row 9 seat 12 where were you, at the Haarbocht tribune no matter how people are going to change tribune names, its still haarBOCHT in my vocabulary, not haarBOS

my dad and my sis where clocking the gap between rossi+melandri too made it lots more exciting, rossi really can make a race

and to see him now undercover at misano is briliant, just one day after Assen he's already back in italy!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Franco Fangio @ Jun 29 2008, 12:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Did you improve your Dutch??

NO chance, its the strangest (and funniest) language i've ever heard!! I found holland to be pretty hilarious actualy, it was like a charicature of itself. People actually wear clogs, i saw plenty of windmills, millions of funny looking bicycles and not a hill in sight. I have seriously never seen anything so flat in all my life, it looks like someone ironed England!!

The people were great though, they all spoke admirable amounts of english and were really friendly.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Marijke @ Jun 29 2008, 01:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I sat at the Stekkenwal, part AL row 9 seat 12 where were you, at the Haarbocht tribune no matter how people are going to change tribune names, its still haarBOCHT in my vocabulary, not haarBOS

my dad and my sis where clocking the gap between rossi+melandri too made it lots more exciting, rossi really can make a race

and to see him now undercover at misano is briliant, just one day after Assen he's already back in italy!
(Ik zat ook bij Stekkenwal!!! BL volgens mij, rij 5, stoel 1 ).

Last year I sat at the Haarbocht tribune(idd GEEN haarbos ). I prefered sitting at the Stekkenwal, but I will try some other place next year.

Did you stay till the end? Did you see the ''zijspan race''
OMG, that looked soooo funny!!!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Tom @ Jun 29 2008, 01:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>NO chance, its the strangest (and funniest) language i've ever heard!! I found holland to be pretty hilarious actualy, it was like a charicature of itself. People actually wear clogs, i saw plenty of windmills, millions of funny looking bicycles and not a hill in sight. I have seriously never seen anything so flat in all my life, it looks like someone ironed England!!

The people were great though, they all spoke admirable amounts of english and were really friendly.
Of course they were
Did you expect anything else then???

Poms shouldn't try and speak Dutch, it's dangerous!!!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Marijke @ Jun 29 2008, 12:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I sat at the Stekkenwal, part AL row 9 seat 12 where were you, at the Haarbocht tribune no matter how people are going to change tribune names, its still haarBOCHT in my vocabulary, not haarBOS

my dad and my sis where clocking the gap between rossi+melandri too made it lots more exciting, rossi really can make a race

and to see him now undercover at misano is briliant, just one day after Assen he's already back in italy!

ya a piss pot helmet and a pair of shades ain't much of a disguise though

great to read about yer wkend experience and great pics Mari

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Franco Fangio @ Jun 29 2008, 01:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>(Ik zat ook bij Stekkenwal!!! BL volgens mij, rij 5, stoel 1 ).

Last year I sat at the Haarbocht tribune(idd GEEN haarbos ). I prefered sitting at the Stekkenwal, but I will try some other place next year.

Did you stay till the end? Did you see the ''zijspan race''
OMG, that looked soooo funny!!!
OH MY GOD we sat almost right next to eachother yesterday! BL is right next to AL, you sat 4 rows below me!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Tom @ Jun 29 2008, 01:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>On raceday i saw the most bikes i've ever seen in my life in one place, and was taken back by the scale and significance of the TT that locals up to 100km away come out to watch the fans leave, have a bbq and wave. Kids on the street had banners requesting wheelies and all the motorway bridges and service stations were full, fantastic stuff.
http://www.racesport.nl/nieuwsbericht/1688...ugtocht+TT.html

some pics of those people+bikes on the way back from the track made by Racesport

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Marijke @ Jun 28 2008, 09:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>250 race was the best race of the day!

Better than 125?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Tom @ Jun 29 2008, 03:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Better than 125?
well, 125 cc was great too. but it had a restart and for me, that killed the excitement of seeing BS up front etc. so yeah, 250cc was the best race with the battle up front between luthi+bautista

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Marijke @ Jun 29 2008, 03:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>OH MY GOD we sat almost right next to eachother yesterday! BL is right next to AL, you sat 4 rows below me!
LOL!!!
I was the one with the yellow Rossi hat!!!! (I guess I wasn't the only one ).

Did you also see 4 italian guys all dressed in yellow. They were sooooo crazy. Two of them started talking to me in Italian, I was like WTF!!