It’s hard to believe, but when the travelling circus sets foot in Assen at the end of June, we will celebrate one of the most unbelievable dates in this sport. The first ever race held was exactly 100 years ago.
This track is synonymous with motorcycle racing, through the years it kept delivering us the thrill with its unorthodox, fast corners that was selective with even the best of the best. But the layout, the feeling wasn’t always the same so I will dwell into the impossible task of trying to capture some of it for you in this blog.
So, let us take a walk around the track, while I tell you all about it.
We have to go way back, to the first Dutch TT. It was held in 1925 and it was a road racing instalment between four cities: Rolde, Borger, Schoonlo and Grollo. The track was brick- and semi-paved, the winner was Piet van Wijngaarden, with a 500cc Norton, he would be absolutely thrilled, if he knew the streak he started. Two years later the race went international as foreign riders joined.
If we start the story from the beginning we also have to stop at the notorious first corner, the Haarbocht. In the opening lap, taking this corner is always chaotic. No one knows this better than Álex Rins, who had a huge highside here in 2024, this would alter the rest of his season, but Yamaha put their trust in him he is still under contract in 2025, we all hope we can catch a glimps of his talent that we seen on the Suzuki.
There has only been a 5-year window, when the races weren’t held, between 1940–45, I think you can guess why. Next stop is 1949, when the FIM establishes the World Road Racing Championship, the third race of the season was held in none other than our Cathedral, Nello Pagani winning the 500cc (and the 125cc). From that moment on, every season included Assen. In 1955 the foundation of the illustrious racing line was laid. This new circuit will open to the sidecar enthusiast too. From this point on the number of spectators exploded.
While we chatted, we’ve arrived to a narrow hairpin corner on our completely theoretical jog, “The Strubben”. In 2018 Assen was home to one of the most overtaking weekends, the race was creatively named the “race of a 100 ovetakes”, some say this was the most competitive grid ever here. The before-mentioned hairpin almost swallowed the winner, Marc after a harsh contact with Rins. Keep calm, #93 reversed the roles the next lap and took over in the same corner, it’s all about revenge.
In 1962 more than 100 000 paying visitors came to watch the race. This meant investors became more and more interested. In later years more accommodation, pits and the two main stands, the Haarbocht and the Winterdijk were built.
With this we now look down the Veenslang straight, crucial for those who want to master this track, many overtakes were built from this crooked straight and finished in the next historical point of the track, the Ruskenhoek corner. There are no small crashes in Assen, you have to string together these corners at a very high speed. 2008, John Hopkins almost payed with his life in the Ruskenhoek. He lost control at such a high speed the gravel couldn’t stop him, from bombing into the wall. The bike was so torn apart, the commentators couldn’t tell which Kawa rider crashed.
In 2019 the circuit set its attendance record with 167 000 fans. I sincerely hope that we can break the record, thankfully we can try at least until 2031. The history of this track has been saved through the ages, I wouldn’t have been able to write, if I hadn’t tapped into the great films and literature which preserved the track, like Shell archives has a great film, which shows us the 1954 TT, where Geoff Duke stole the show, I left the link at the end of the blog, you should definitely check it out.
What a wonderful journey this has been, but this too has to come to a stall. We arrived to the last set of corners, you know, I know, it’s the Geert Timmer chicane. This corner alone produced so many unlikely victors over the years, but to remember a few, this is where Wayne Rainey infamously lost the TT to a trailing Kevin Schwantz. And how nice it is, that we can remember the battle of a lifetime once again. This is the corner, where Rossi and Márquez battled it out in 2015. Rossi had to cut the last corner out, straight through the gravel, somehow not crashing and even pulling a wheelie on the trailing Honda.
If I learned something, it is most definitely that only 3 things are certain in this life: Death, Taxes and the Dutch TT.
1954 TT, Shell archives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g18a0Nkehc
BME Veloce Corse 