America's great hope in MotoGP, Ben Spies, won the Dutch GP at Assen last Saturday. It was his first MotoGP win in only his 28th try, and was the first win by a Yank since Laguna Seca in 2005 I believe.  Ben started 2nd, came out of the first couple of turns in 1st, and lead by 4-5 seconds most of the race, and won going away with a 7 second margin over Casey Stoner. Andrea Dovzioso rounded out the podium. It was a good day for Americans in general with Nicky Hayden in 5th and Colin Edwards and the 14 screws holding his collar bone together coming home in 7th. Helping Spies' cause was pole-sitter Marco "Never Crash Alone" Simoncelli's decision to get over-exuberant on cold tires (again!) on the first lap and take out reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo in the process. Both remounted with Lorenzo rallying to finish 6th. Spies and teammate Lorenzo were running classic red and white Yamaha racing finery in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Yamaha's involvement in premier-level GP racing.