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Dani Pedrosa Obliterates the Assen TT Lap Record as He Dominates the Practice Friday

After the morning practice at Assen we told you that it's becoming more and more obvious that Dani Pedrosa should have had the arm pump surgery earlier instead of battling pain and discomfort for an entire year. He's recovering, and he's getting better and faster, posting a blistering 1'33.450 lap in FP2 this afternoon.
Dani Pedrosa, FP2 Assen, 2015 11 photos
Photo: motogp.com
Pedrosa has thus become the fastest rider to have set foot/bike on the old Assen TT, the only circuit that was a part of the premier class ever since its beginning.

The time sheets changed after FP2, as Marquez was 0.139s behind Pedrosa, putting a Honda 1-2 in the lead. Rossi, who kept on riding with the new frame, is third, only 63 thousandths of a second behind the reigning champion, and is followed by Andrea Iannone's Ducati. Cal Crutchlow, whose first practice session was rather modest, climbed to the fifth position at the end of the day.

Lorenzo finishes the Assen Friday as the sixth-fastest rider, and had Andrea Dovizioso behind him. Aleix Espargaro was eighth, while Petrucci and Maverick Vinales rounded up the top ten. Strangely, the satellite Tech3 Yamaha bikes dropped back, with Pol Espargaro 11th and Bradley Smith 13th.

Marquez is riding in a very aggressive manner that could get him in trouble

Marc Marquez is apparently riding in an even more aggressive manner than in FP1, and this time it's about more than using the run-off areas more often.

We've seen him getting dangerously close to both Maverick Vinales and Jorge Lorenzo, close to the point where Vinales had to pick up the bike to avoid clashing with MM93. As for Movistar Yamaha, we'd be surprised if Lin Jarvis didn't have a talk with Shuhei Nakamoto after Free Practice 2.

It's fairly easy to understand that Assen is maybe one of the last chances for Marquez to retain the viability of his odds to get close to the season podium. Unfortunately, with three crashes in the last races and some more in the practice outings, he doesn't look like riding that aggressively is the way to go.

Catch up with us tomorrow for more MotoGP action from Assen.
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