Photo: motogp.com
The winds of change are blowing in the MotoGP calendar as well, and we are the witnesses of the entire process. The Dutch GP at Assen, a race that has always been held on a Saturday, will now lose its unique attribute starting with this year.
Assen has been a part of the Grand Prix history since the very beginning of this sport, and one of the things that set this round apart was the fact that it was the only race that was held on a Saturday instead of the usual Sunday.
This thing happened from the very first time GP motorcycles raced there, and the tradition endured until this year when the organizers of the Dutch GP decided to make a change for the better.
Many of you maybe wonder why the race at Assen was always the only Saturday race in the entire GP calendar. Believe it or not, the reasons are religious ones and date back from the early days.
For starters, we have to say that the first GP race was not held in Assen but Rolde, a village several kilometers from Assen, and was later moved. Back in the day, motorcycle races used to take place on ordinary roads, like it still happens in the Isle of Man or Northern Ireland.
In the absence of a dedicated circuit, public traffic needed to be restricted on the roads where the race motorcycles would pass. However, due to the proximity of the racing route and the local church, closing the roads would have meant that people who wanted to attend the Sunday sermon could not make it there.
So the organizers thought to have the bike racing on the streets of Rolde on Saturday... and this was highly appreciated. A successful event made the organizers stick with the format, and this became a tradition for the Dutch race.
Assen the only venue on the MotoGP calendar to host a GP race since the World Championship was created in 1949. However, motorcycle racing is a part of Assen's history since 1925, with only six years of interruption between 1940 and 1945 because of WWII.
The "Saturday race" particularity was a symbolic one, with no productive potential, so the change was not that hard to make.
“By changing to Sunday from 2016, it is expected that larger numbers of spectators will visit the track. In the current Dutch leisure pattern a top sporting event on a Sunday is more attractive than on a Saturday. On Sundays there is also more media exposure for these top sporting events, which is something the TT Assen will definitely benefit from. This has also proven to increase visitor numbers. By moving the training days to Friday and Saturday, the TT Assen becomes more attractive for a multi-day visit and therefore also for the purchase of all-in tickets," Dutch TT officials say, according to crash.net.
“The decision to move the race to Sunday was made out of sheer necessity. The number of motorcycle Grands Prix around the world is limited, and often there is more capital available elsewhere to obtain a MotoGP license. In this competitive environment, the TT Assen can only hold its own by increasing the number of visitors. With an increase in the number of visitors, the Board expects the turnover of the TT to increase by 5-10% in the medium-to-long term. This extra revenue will be used to continue to cover the increasing operational costs of the event and to secure the license in the long term, and to be able to guarantee financial cover for new investments in public facilities."
“Moving the TT to Sunday is a better fit with the pattern of other events in motor and motorcycle racing and with the spirit of the times. Nearly all top sporting events around the world take place on a Sunday. They will be maintaining the tradition of the last weekend in June, so the move from the Saturday to the Sunday could be seen as an old tradition with a modern twist.”
So, as of this June, it's a new era for the Dutch TT Assen, the penultimate round before the summer break. Honda and Marquez head for the 26 June race with a modest 10-point advantage, followed by the two Yamaha riders, Lorenzo and Rossi, separated by only 12 points after the Spaniard's unfortunate crash at Barcelona.
This thing happened from the very first time GP motorcycles raced there, and the tradition endured until this year when the organizers of the Dutch GP decided to make a change for the better.
Many of you maybe wonder why the race at Assen was always the only Saturday race in the entire GP calendar. Believe it or not, the reasons are religious ones and date back from the early days.
For starters, we have to say that the first GP race was not held in Assen but Rolde, a village several kilometers from Assen, and was later moved. Back in the day, motorcycle races used to take place on ordinary roads, like it still happens in the Isle of Man or Northern Ireland.
In the absence of a dedicated circuit, public traffic needed to be restricted on the roads where the race motorcycles would pass. However, due to the proximity of the racing route and the local church, closing the roads would have meant that people who wanted to attend the Sunday sermon could not make it there.
So the organizers thought to have the bike racing on the streets of Rolde on Saturday... and this was highly appreciated. A successful event made the organizers stick with the format, and this became a tradition for the Dutch race.
Assen the only venue on the MotoGP calendar to host a GP race since the World Championship was created in 1949. However, motorcycle racing is a part of Assen's history since 1925, with only six years of interruption between 1940 and 1945 because of WWII.
Sunday races draw more people
Now, moving the race from Saturday to Sunday has purely economic reasons, in case you wonder. The organizers found out that sporting events that take place on a Sunday draw larger crowds, so the move was a fairly simple one.The "Saturday race" particularity was a symbolic one, with no productive potential, so the change was not that hard to make.
“By changing to Sunday from 2016, it is expected that larger numbers of spectators will visit the track. In the current Dutch leisure pattern a top sporting event on a Sunday is more attractive than on a Saturday. On Sundays there is also more media exposure for these top sporting events, which is something the TT Assen will definitely benefit from. This has also proven to increase visitor numbers. By moving the training days to Friday and Saturday, the TT Assen becomes more attractive for a multi-day visit and therefore also for the purchase of all-in tickets," Dutch TT officials say, according to crash.net.
“The decision to move the race to Sunday was made out of sheer necessity. The number of motorcycle Grands Prix around the world is limited, and often there is more capital available elsewhere to obtain a MotoGP license. In this competitive environment, the TT Assen can only hold its own by increasing the number of visitors. With an increase in the number of visitors, the Board expects the turnover of the TT to increase by 5-10% in the medium-to-long term. This extra revenue will be used to continue to cover the increasing operational costs of the event and to secure the license in the long term, and to be able to guarantee financial cover for new investments in public facilities."
“Moving the TT to Sunday is a better fit with the pattern of other events in motor and motorcycle racing and with the spirit of the times. Nearly all top sporting events around the world take place on a Sunday. They will be maintaining the tradition of the last weekend in June, so the move from the Saturday to the Sunday could be seen as an old tradition with a modern twist.”
So, as of this June, it's a new era for the Dutch TT Assen, the penultimate round before the summer break. Honda and Marquez head for the 26 June race with a modest 10-point advantage, followed by the two Yamaha riders, Lorenzo and Rossi, separated by only 12 points after the Spaniard's unfortunate crash at Barcelona.
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