OFFICIAL PROGRAMME
Assen , as well as being the most historic circuit still going for WorldSBK , is also the most altered . but for hard-headed commercial reasons , and for spectator parking space , to create a bigger modern paddock and even to correct well-meaning but imperfect first-time layout changes . And let us not forget Assen in its totality was made three metres wider as the GP bikes just got faster and faster , with some of the famous cambers taken out despite protests from some quarters . Heaven forbid that Assen needs to be altered too much more in the future but even though it is so different from the venue I first visited in 1999 , it is still very much its own unique self . A positive throwback for several new generations to enjoy . The feeling seems to be that if the layout or facilities need to be changed yet again then the many people who have ultimate control of the whole venue - and a very Dutch shared control it seems - will do what ’ s needed and change with the times . After all , this is ‘ our ’ place of multi-faith secular worship - everybody in global bike racing ’ s communal petrocathedral - so we all know that a little remodelling goes a long way if you want to be in the racing game for all eternity . Assen seems to want to live on forever and we can be sure every Dutch fan will demand that it does
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