Rossi wins but Barros is best.

Valentino Rossi's unstoppable march towards a second MotoGP World title took another step in Saturday's Dutch TT at Assen but the Italian star had some of his glory taken away following a truly heroic ride by Alex Barros on a two-stroke Honda.

Factory Repsol Honda rider Valentino Rossi sped to his sixth win in seven races aboard the dominant and simply flawless four-stroke Honda V5 as the rains held off once again at the slightly re-profiled but no less magic Assen circuit in Holland.

However Rossi's fifth victory on the bounce was arguably his toughest yet as the two-stroke Honda of Brazilian veteran Alex Barros led the MotoGP Champion-elect until the end of the 15th lap in what was a 19-lap race on a bike far less potent than the latest baby of the Honda factory.

Rossi's Achilles heel returned in a small way at the start when he dropped from first to fourth on the run down to the first corner behind fast starter Max Biaggi, Kenny Roberts and the astounding Tohru Ukawa who rose from eighth on the grid.

Roberts then led briefly on the improving four-stroke Suzuki before Barros rocketed past him entering the final chicane on lap three.

Prior to this the Sito Pons Honda rider had disposed of Rossi and Biaggi with equally gutsy moves within a few corners of each other and once ahead the West sponsored rider did his best to take advantage of the clear track and put in some simply stunning laps.

Behind Barros a six-bike train was coming together with Roberts holding off Rossi, Biaggi, Ukawa, Carlos Checa and Loris Capirossi on the second Pons-run Honda.

Soon all seven bikes were circling in unison around the glorious Dutch circuit although Capirossi was eliminated from the equation on lap five when he clipped the grass on the exit of turn two and was thrown off his bike in spectacular fashion. Thankfully he escaped uninjured.

As Capirossi made his exit, Rossi swept by Roberts' Suzuki with ease and latched onto the rear of Barros who conclusively underlined his reputation as being the hardest man to out brake in the Grand Prix Series.

Although the extra grunt of Rossi's Honda along the main straight was clear to see, Barros manfully stuck to his guns and offered not a single inch of space to bike racing's biggest star.

With Roberts, Biaggi et-al long since vanquished Barros/Rossi became a straight duel for the lead with the Dutch crowd loving every second of it. Although most felt that Rossi easily had Barros' number, the Brazilian's continued late braking into turn one made any move for the lead exceptionally risky.

However going into lap 16 Rossi finally opened his bike up fully and swept around the outside of Barros as they flashed across the start/finish line. Three successive fastest laps later and Rossi had completed the win.

Barros tried gamely to go with Rossi at the end and turned in his fastest laps of the race as he gave chase but the four-stroke's superiority was too much and he dropped more than two seconds to the leader in the final three laps.

Still, one of the rides of the year thus far took Barros to fourth in the standings behind only Rossi, Ukawa and Checa.

Behind the leading pair, a three-bike scrap developed for third place between Biaggi, Checa and Ukawa with the Italian rider initially holding the final podium position until missing his turn one braking point on lap 13.

That left Checa and Ukawa to duke it out with the Yamaha man holding the advantage although as they entered the final lap it was Ukawa who was quicker.

Desperate to join his teammate on the podium, Ukawa made several lunges around the back-end of the circuit but Checa still held the place as they approached the final chicane for the last time. Ukawa dived inside, but both braked far to late and slithered into the middle of the corner, Checa through the gravel trap and Ukawa onto the grass.

However while Checa was able to plough through the gravel and come out the other side, Ukawa found no grip on the grass and tumbled across the track where his bike stopped. Checa took third and as Ukawa scrambled to push-start is bike, Biaggi swept through to take fourth.

With Roberts now fast approaching, Ukawa hurled himself back onto the dust-covered machine and dragged it across the line with less than two seconds to spare over the advancing Roberts.

After becoming the youngest American to ever score a top ten finish in the MotoGP/500cc class in Barcelona, John Hopkins put in another career-best performance with a seventh place finish ahead of Shinya Nakano on the best of the Gauloises Yamaha's.

Norick Abe made up for a lousy starting position with a ninth place finish while local hero Jurgen van de Goorbergh rounded out the top ten after a spirited battle with the well-ridden Red Bull Yamaha of Alex Hofmann.

Hofmann rounded off his two-race stint with the Red Bull team with a well-deserved 11th place ahead of Daijiro Katoh, Tetsuya Harada, Olivier Jacque and Akira Ryo.

No other riders finished with Jeremy McWilliams joining Capirossi on the sidelines on lap eight whilst running a creditable seventh. Sete Gibernau crashed at the chicane while Regis Laconi recorded his first DNF of the year on the Aprilia with mechanical problems.