the Hockenheimring . But for ‘ short circuit ’ racing for motorcycles , Assen is the Netherland ’ s only true shrine to the gods of speed . Assen , in short , is a highlight of any season - with the possible exception of the weather . After missing the Assen round in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic shutdowns , arriving in the Netherlands with a full race weekend in front of us is going to be an unbounded joy and another reason to be filled with optimism . The racing itself is usually immense and tightly packed , certainly in the earlier laps , and that is because even the much-altered and heavily compressed layout compared to the cross-millennium and earlier versions is still fast and flowing in many areas . Slipstreaming is an art that may soon only be depicted by cave paintings at places like Hockeheim , Monza and the Salzburgring , but at Assen slipstreaming is still very much like an old Dutch Master creating an action painting in the Drenthe countryside . You can modernise the canvas and brushes all you want but the rules of perspective , depth of field and keen judgement are the same as they ever were in the slipstream around those banked curves at Assen . And then there is the final chicane to consider .
Not scared to try a radical solution to keep up with the times , Assen ’ s floating grandstand was a weird idea at first . But if this is how you keep arguably the most decisive and dramatic overtaking and race-winning opportunity intact , and still have enough mandatory run-off for 200bhp plus motorcycles , then raise the crowd up and over the potential danger zone everywhere , says I . It is only when asked to sit down and write about Assen as a venue , as place of two-wheeled worship , that you can appreciate how the venue has pulled off a remarkable series of utterly grounded but truly imaginative tricks over the decades in order to stay relevant and perennially unmissable in big-time bike racing . Strange isn ’ t it that Assen , as well as being the most historic circuit still going for WorldSBK , is also the most altered in all possible ways ? The track layout has been endlessly shortened and trimmed , not just for safety
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