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Backstage at the MotoGP Assen

With the Sachsenring coming up, we take a look back at last week MotoGP race at Assen circuit.

The cathedral of motorsports due to the long history and Assen has been on the calendar since 1925.

Thanks to Bridgestone we got a tour around the paddock and a brief explanation about the tire structures and procedures around the MotoGP.

Bridgestone brings about 1000 tires to each MotoGP race and they are all randomly distributed by Dorna. Bridgestone only fits and balances the tires, since the teams decide which pressure to run.

Balancing is all done by hand and all tires are free of charge. Bridgestone uses the technology to improve road tires. Bringing the race tires to the roads.

At the beginning of this year the riders wanted a new tire which would heat up quicker, so Bridgestone developed a new construction which flexes a bit more and thus heats up quicker.

As some have seen their where some big issues in the race at Assen circuit, especially for Rossi. Bridgestone announced that this was the result of excessive heating in the rear tire, due to the warmer conditions and the high camber of the Assen circuit. Bridgestone always sends all their tires back to its technical centre in Japan where they are analyzed intensively.

Bridgestone has announced a new construction tire to prevent these situations in the future.

We are positive that Bridgestone will resolve the problem since the effort and manpower is enormous.

The paddock has been growing rapidly with huge mobile homes just like the immense Ducati home.

Next to Ducati home, were the two seater Desmocedici’s from 2006. With their two riders Baittaini and Randy Mamola.

We also saw Capirossi which is now in the race direction and as BMW safety advisor. Since BMW is the main sponsor, they provide the BMW M3 track edition to the fastest qualifier of the entire year. They also provide the new BMW M6 safety car, more on that here.

All the riders ride from their motor homes on scooters to the pit. We now know why Ben Spies has been nicknamed Ben “Elbow” Spies.

Lorenzo also seemed very relaxed before practice. Being in the paddock confirms the still hugely popular of Valentino Rossi. Most people stand by to see Rossi and to get an autograph of Rossi. But this is not just because of his World titles but as he showed he really takes his time for his fans, even after a bad qualification, this making him such a popular rider.

Unfortunately Bautista crashed out in the first corner taking Lorenzo with him and ending and exciting race beforehand. As seen in the video.

Lorenzo would have been a big contender of winning the race.

Fortunately the Moto2, Moto3 and the Red Bull Rookies cup more than made up for it.

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