Assen, June 29: Spaniard Sete Gibernau, riding a Honda, took advantage of wet conditions to win the MotoGP race at the Dutch Grand Prix. Gibernau came home first in 42 minutes 39.006 seconds ahead of Italians Max Biaggi (42:49.117) in second and Valentino Rossi (42:52.881), who was third. "It would have been much harder, for sure, in the dry. Valentino and Max had better pace than me in the dry," Gibernau said. The race was delayed when a downpour interrupted the warm-up lap and riders had to switch to full wet tyres. The win is the third victory of the season for Gibernau, who ranks second in the championship, 38 points behind Rossi. Rain reduced visibility during parts of the race to a few metres. During the first part of the race, Biaggi and Gibernau battled for the lead in a cat-and-mouse game which Gibernau eventually won.


Australian Anthony West, riding an Aprilia, won the 250cc race, his first career victory. His win in 41 minutes 57.413 seconds, ahead of team mates Franco Battaini of Italy (42:00.400) in second and Sylvain Guintoli of France (42:08.074) in third, lifted West to sixth in the championship.


Another Aprilia rider, Manuel Poggiali of San Marino, leads the standings by 15 points from Italian Honda rider Roberto Rolfo after they came home fourth and sixth respectively.


West took the lead early, passing four riders on the first lap and expertly handling the wet conditions.



In the 125cc race, German Steve Jenkner on an Aprilia braved heavy showers to secure his first grand prix win in 42 minutes 25.609 seconds. Jenkner remains second in the championship but has narrowed the gap to 26 points behind Daniel Pedrosa of Spain.


Spaniards Pablo Nieto (42:36.798) and Hector Barbera (42:50.292) finished second and third respectively.


Leading results from Saturday's Dutch motorcycling Grand Prix: MotoGP 1. Sete Gibernau (Spain) Honda 42 minutes 39.006 seconds 2. Max Biaggi (Italy) Honda 42:49.117 3. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Honda 42:52.881 4. Carlos Checa (Spain) Yamaha 43:15.984 5. Olivier Jacque (France) Yamaha 43:19.351 6. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Ducat 43:21.183 7. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Aprilia 43:29.524 8. Alex Barros (Brazil) Yamaha 43:38.029 9. Troy Bayliss (Australia) Ducati 44:12.542 10. Alex Hofmann (Germany) Kawasaki 44:15.409


Leading overall standings after seven events: 1. Rossi 151 points 2. Gibernau 113 3. Biaggi 105 4. Capirossi 71 5. Barros 62 6. Tohru Ukawa (Japan) Honda 56 7. Bayliss 53 8. Checa 47 9. Shinya Nakano (Japan) Yamaha 47 10. Jacque 43


Manufacturers: 1. Honda 170 2. Ducati 100 3. Yamaha 83 4. Aprilia 43 5. Proton KR 21 6. Suzuki 17 7. Kawasaki 16



250 cc 1. Anthony West (Australia) Aprilia 41 minutes 57.413 seconds 2. Franco Battaini (Italy) Aprilia 42:00.400 3. Sylvain Guintoli (France) Aprilia 42:08.074 4. Manuel Poggiali (San Marino) Aprilia 42:11.573 5. Sebastian Porto (Argentina) Honda 42:24.030 6. Roberto Rolfo (Italy) Honda 42:29.361 7. Erwan Nigon (France) Aprilia 43:11.610 8. Christian Gemmel (Germany) Honda 43:22.071 9. Hugo Marchand (France) Aprilia 43:33.572 10. Johan Stigefelt (Sweden) Aprilia 43:33.683


Leading overall standings after seven events: 1. Poggiali 101 points 2. Rolfo 86 3. Toni Elias (Spain) Aprilia 84 4. Randy De Puniet (France) Aprilia 81 5. Fonsi Nieto (Spain) Aprilia 81 6. West 78 7. Battaini 78 8. Porto 64 9. Guintoli 58 10. Naoki Matsudo (Japan) Yamaha 53


Manufacturers: 1. Aprilia 175 2. Honda 102 3. Yamaha 53


125 cc result 1. Steve Jenkner (Germany) Aprilia 42 minutes 25.609 seconds 2. Pablo Nieto (Spain) Aprilia 42:36.798 3. Hector Barbera (Spain) Aprilia 42:50.292 4. Youichi Ui (Japan) Aprilia 42:56.029 5. Stefano Perugini (Italy) Aprilia 43:12.048 6. Alex De Angelis (San Marino) Aprilia 43:27.335 7. Thomas Luthi (Switzerland) Honda 43:27.464 8. Daniel Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 43:30.207 9. Gabor Talmacsi (Hungary) Aprilia 43:30.785 10. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda 43:31.629


Leading overall standings after seven events: 1. Pedrosa 124 points 2. Jenkner 98 3. Lucio Cecchinello (Italy) Aprilia 91 4. Perugini 76 5. Dovizioso 73 6. Nieto 67 7. Ui 64 8. De Angelis 63 9. Luthi 48 10. Mirko Giansanti (Italy) 41


Manufacturers: 1. Aprilia 152 2. Honda 128 3. Derbi 11 4. KTM 11 5. Malaguti 2


Bureau Report