Vinales Declared the Winner as Rain Halts TT Assen

Maverick Vinales was declared the winner of a fierce 125cc TT Assen after the race was red flagged at two-thirds distance due to rain. The Blusens by Paris Hilton rider started from pole position but took longer than most riders to adjust to the conditions and was forced to work his way back through the field.

Vinales got a smooth start and led into turn one while the two Avant-AirAsia-Ajo bikes gave chase, but the second Blusens bike of Sergio Gadea stormed through from the third row of the grid to take the lead by the end of the first lap.

The leading group comprised of a dozen riders as no-one seemed able to make a break, with Luis Salom coming through to challenge Gadea on lap three. Derbi duo Vazquez and Zarco were on a charge and weaved past the leading pair as they came through the chicane to complete the lap.

Vazquez' lead was short-lived as teammate Zarco moved past, but he wouldn't last long at the front either as Gadea moved back into the lead coming into the Ramshoek corner on lap six, a bend were riders were regularly going three abreast.

Gadea held on until the end of lap six when Sandro Cortese took his turn at the front. The German suffered a poor start but kept himself in touch with the leading group and scythed past Gadea at the last chicane.

Further back, Jonas Folger was trying to make progress after starting seventh and lunged up the inside of Salom and Vazquez into turn one on the seventh lap but only succeeded in running all three riders wide, allowing Vinales to move back into fourth. The polesitter had dropped as low as ninth after a steady first few laps but was now homing in on the top three.

By lap nine, he was right on their tails and had clearly been noticed by Zarco who overtook Gadea for second but Vinales was hot on his heels and made short work of his teammate a lap later. Not satisfied with third, Vinales followed Cortese past Zarco and then snatched the lead from the German at the last chicane. Within the space of a lap, he had gone from fourth to first.

The light rain that had fallen since the start was starting to get heavier and the pace was getting slower and slower. The drizzle didn't seem to be affecting Luis Salom and Danny Kent who were also bringing themselves into contention with the leading quartet.

By half distance, the young Briton was right in the mix and briefly held fourth after passing both Salom and Zarco at the Strubben hairpin. A mistake later in the lap dropped him back down to sixth and that mistake would prove decisive as the race would finish sooner than planned.

On lap 13, the conditions were proving too difficult for some, with Gadea and Cortese both gesticulating for the race to be stopped. The red flags were not forthcoming just yet though and Salom capitalised on the hesitation to sweep through into second.

Vinales didn't seem too concerned either and stormed into a 2.3s lead, but the race leader certainly wasn't complaining when the red flags finally came out on lap 15, bringing the race to an early conclusion.

Salom was equally ecstatic with second, his first Grand Prix podium, with Gadea claiming the final podium position. Despite his discomfort with the conditions, Cortese still held on to fourth ahead of Zarco with Danny Kent taking an excellent sixth.

After leading the race early on, Efren Vazquez will have been disappointed with seventh while Jonas Folger missed the chance to close in on the absent Nicolas Terol after only finishing eighth. Marcel Schrotter gave Mahindra their best ever finish in ninth with Hector Faubel in tenth.

Danny Webb also scored points in 13^th but Harry Stafford was forced to settle for 25^th after a crash, one place ahead of fellow Brit Taylor Mackenzie.

Race Result (Result Declared After 14 Laps):

Lap Leaders (14 Laps):

Gadea (1-2, 5-6), Vazquez (3), Zarco (4), Cortese (7-9), Vinales (10-14)

Riders Championship (After Round 7: Netherlands)