Home hero Bo Bendsneyder delighted the Dutch crowd by topping a crash-strewn wet final free practice session at the TT Circuit Assen.
Miserably wet conditions greeted the Moto3 field for their third 40-minute practice session of the Dutch TT weekend, and it didn’t take long for the weather to begin catching riders out.
The Turn 5 hairpin proved a hotspot in the early stages, with Darryn Binder, John McPhee, Marcos Ramirez and Marco Bezzecchi crashing there in quick succession.
By the end of the session 15 riders had taken visits to the Assen gravel traps, though Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Bendsneyder kept his powder dry throughout the session, regularly taking over at the top of the timesheets.
The Dutch rider went almost six tenths of a second clear of the field in the closing stages of the session with a 1m57.078s, sending him into qualifying for his home race as the favourite for pole.
Thai rookie Nakarin Atiratphuvapat has proven this season to be a capable rider in damp conditions, and carried that form on this morning with the second quickest time of the session ahead of championship leader Joan Mir.
Jules Danilo slotted into fourth spot ahead of 2017’s qualifying master Jorge Martin, who is searching for his fifth successive pole position later today.
Lorenzo Dalla Porta led the Mahindra charge in sixth on a 1m58.193s, but crashed at Turn 15 right at the end of the session. Jakub Kornfeil had been fastest at one stage, but a late fall resigned the Czech rider to seventh ahead of Romano Fenati.
Adam Norrodin and Nicolo Bulega completed the top 10, with Tatsuki Suzuki brushing off a highside at Turn 5 earlier in the session to go 11th fastest ahead of Livio Loi and Fabio Di Giannantonio, who crashed at the final corner in the closing minutes of third practice.
Darryn Binder notched up a second tumble six minutes from the chequered flag, the South African shuffled back to 22nd on the timesheets as a result ahead of Kaito Toba, who fell halfway through the session.
Suzuki’s team-mate Tony Arbolino added to the SIC58 team’s workload with an off at Turn 3 late in the session. Aron Canet, Philipp Oettl, Ayumu Sasaki, Niccolo Antonelli and Dutch wildcard Ryan Van de Lagemmat added their names to the lengthy crashers list, all coming away unscathed. 
