Part of the legendary status of the classic Dutch circuit, loved by riders and fans alike, is because it has sharp teeth. It showed them to at least two riders over an unusually sunny TT weekend.
In MotoGP, Moto2 champion Franco Morbidelli was ruled out for the rest of the weekend after a heavy crash at the end of the back straight in FP3.
Travelling at speed in the fourth-gear Turn 7 when he lost the front, the Italian Rossi protégé went tumbling end over end, stopping only just short of the barrier. Considering the potential, he was somewhat lucky to escape with only one fracture. But it was an injury that could prove problematic: a fracture in the third metacarpal in his left hand, and could cast a shadow over the German GP in two weeks, before the summer break.
His patron Valentino Rossi tested his luck at the same corner in FP4, but once again came out on the winning side. Not only did the rider slide harmlessly to a stop in the gravel, but so too did his factory Yamaha, rather than flipping to destruction.
On Friday, Moto2 rider Tetsuta Nagashima (Idemitsu Kalex) was also ruled out, after badly gashing a finger in a crash at the fast Ramshoek corner at the end of the lap.
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- Morbidelli, Dutch MotoGP 2018
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- Morbidelli, Dutch MotoGP 2018