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MotoGP, The Assen curse: Ducati, 10 years without a win

The last red victory dates back to 2008 and Casey Stoner. Rossi out for his eleventh win at the Dutch track

MotoGP: The Assen curse: Ducati, 10 years without a win

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University exams are up next weekend for the world championship riders at the Assen track. While Rossi seeks his eleventh victory at the TT, Ducati aims to put an end to the ten-year fast.

Here are all the facts and figures regarding the upcoming round.

- The Dutch GP, historically referred to as the Assen TT, is the only race to have run every year since 1949, the year the world championship began. But there was racing at the Drenthe track even before that, ever since 1925 in fact. A legendary event then, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.

- The Dutch track has undergone many modifications over the years; up until 1954, it was 16.54 km in length but was then reduced to 7.7 and then 6.1 km. Today the race takes place on a 4.5 km circuit, a modification made in 2006.

- The Assen TT race was the only one that traditionally ran on a Saturday. Right from the race's early days, the track, which took in public roads, would pass near to churches, with Sundays dedicated to worship. The tradition lived on until 2016, when the race was held on a Sunday for the first time.

- Yamaha is the team that has won the most at the TT with nine victories at the hands of Rossi, Lorenzo and Spies.

- Six wins for Honda on the other hand, with Valentino Rossi, Sete Gibernau, Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner, Marc Márquez and Jack Miller

- Ducati has only ever won one race at the track, with Stoner in 2008. But several red riders have reached the podium in recent years, Dovizioso in 2014, Redding in 2016 and Petrucci just last year

- The rider who has scored the most wins at Assen is Angel Nieto, with 15 victories, one more than Giacomo Agostini, while Valentino Rossi has ten to his name.

- The Doctor won the Dutch GP last year and wants to do the double, as he did in the 2004-2005 seasons.

- On 27 June 2003, Marco Melandri became the youngest ever winner at the TT track, at just 15 years and 324 days old.

- Only four Dutch riders have managed to win at the track, namely Paul Lodewijkx (50cc–1968), Wil Hartog (500cc–1977), Jack Middleburg (500cc–1980) and Hans Spaan (125cc–1989).

- In the eight Moto2 races to have run at the Assen track, there have been seven different winners: Andrea Iannone, Marc Márquez, Pol Espargaró, Anthony West, Johann Zarco, Takaaki Nakagami and Franco Morbidelli. The only rider to have won more than once in Moto2  is Marc Márquez, who triumphed in 2011 and 2012.

- The six Moto3 races have produced six different winners, in the shape of Maverick Viñales, Luis Salom, Álex Márquez, Miguel Oliveira, Francesco Bagnaia and Arón Canet.

Translated by Heather Watson
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