Jorge Lorenzo took an impressive seventh win of the season in Brno with a clinical performance that saw him lead from the first lap to the chequered flag. In doing so he becomes only the third premier-class rider in history to finish in the top two at the opening ten races of the season. In stark contrast to his Fiat Yamaha team-mate’s good fortunes, Valentino Rossi ran into problems from the start and could only finish fifth.
Despite surrendering pole position for the first time in six races, some bold moves from the Spaniard around the first two turns saw him take the lead before the first split and he looked in imperious form on his Yamaha M1, with yesterday’s front-end troubles clearly a thing of the past. Dani Pedrosa kept close on his heels for the first few laps but every time his fellow countryman closed the gap a few tenths Lorenzo responded with renewed vigour and by the tenth lap he was a second clear. From then on he was unchallenged and he crossed the line 5.494 seconds clear of Pedrosa to take the 33rd win of his career and his 12th in MotoGP.
Lorenzo becomes only the third premier-class rider in history to finish in the top two at the opening ten races of the season.
With the weather looking favourable following heavy rain this morning, Rossi was confident that he would be able to mount a strong challenge for honours this afternoon but it was not to be for the Italian today. He had felt strong all weekend despite sliding off yesterday but he never had the same confidence in the race and was unable to ride as he would have liked. He had dropped from fifth on the grid to eighth by the end of the first lap before rallying to pass Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden to move to fifth by lap six, but from then on he could make no further headway and rode a lonely race to the flag.
Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 1stTime: 43’22.638
“After my problems yesterday and the crash I didn’t expect this today, I thought it would be much more of a struggle. Once I got to the front I expected Dani to come with me and I knew it was my moment and that I had to push as much as possible. I thought he would try to overtake me but I felt good, pushed hard and little by little I was able to lose him. I know I said I was riding for the championship now and that’s still true but when there’s the chance to win I have to take it! To take my seventh win in one season is fantastic, thank you to all of my team for such a good job after we had difficulties yesterday. Tomorrow we have an important test which we hope will help us in the last part of the championship and then we go to Indianapolis, a track that I love.”
Valentino Rossi – Position: 5thTime: +17.930
“We are really disappointed tonight because we had hoped to do a good race and I was confident that I could challenge at the front today. It seemed everything was right and yesterday we had a good pace but today we just weren’t as fast and I couldn’t stay with the leaders. We are sad but tomorrow we will have the chance to test and try to understand what went wrong today, which will help us to be in better shape in Indianapolis. As for my future, you will know something at 6pm today.”
Pedrosa consolidates second place in the World Championship by taking second, after falling in the previous race
It was another podium finish for Dani Pedrosa in the Czech Republic who consolidates second place in the World Championship by taking second, after falling in the previous race. His Repsol Honda Team team-mate, Andrea Dovizioso, fell in the fourth lap when he was in fourth and battling for third and although he tried to continue, in the seventh lap, he headed back to the garage.
Pedrosa got off to better start than anyone from pole position but when he reached turn three, he erred on the side of caution and braked early as he was tackling it with cold tyres and was overtaken by both the Yamahas of Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies at the same time. Behind him, Dovizioso also had a good start from sixth, allowing him to climb to fifth after the first few turns, wheel-to-wheel with Casey Stoner.
In the battle for third, Dovizioso climbed to fourth after the third lap, after overtaking Casey Stoner. However, in the next lap, the Italian’s steering closed in turn nine and he could not avoid falling. He was left lying in the middle of the track and was lucky that none of his rivals ran over him and was able to get back on his Honda and try to complete the race. However, although he was able to do another three laps, the damage to his bike forced him to head back to the garage, scoring his first nil points of the season, which puts him in fourth place in the standings.
DANI PEDROSA (Repsol Honda)2nd at 5.494 sec.
“It’s good to be back on the podium after the crash at the last race at Laguna Seca so I’m happy about this. My start was good and I was in first place through the first corner but in the first left-hander I was a little bit too concerned about my tyre temperature and braked too early, which allowed Ben and Jorge to get past.
When I was in second place behind Jorge again I was trying as hard as possible to stay close, which I could do for a few laps, but for some reason I wasn’t quite able to go as fast as yesterday – I had quite a lot of wheelspin and was struggling to get good drive out of the corners. I tried to adjust my riding to improve this but Jorge was gradually able to open the gap. So today wasn’t the best result for us, but still the podium is ok and we can build on this result. After the test tomorrow we go to Indianapolis and I was strong there last year – despite the mistake in the race – so I’m confident we can be competitive again at the next race.”
Casey Stoner finished third to extend his run of podium finishes to five and move himself up to third place in the MotoGP World Championship standings.
Casey Stoner finished third to extend his run of podium finishes to five and move himself up to third place in the MotoGP World Championship standings.
Nicky Hayden battled through the pain of a chipped radius bone, sustained in a crash at the end of qualifying practice yesterday afternoon, to cross the line in an impressive sixth place.
CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 3rd
“To be honest I can’t be completely happy with this result, even though it is always good to be on the podium. Towards the end of qualifying yesterday we thought we had found a good way forward with the setting but we needed to finalise it in the warm-up this morning and we didn’t get chance because of the rain. I was struggling with the front for the first few laps and lost too much ground on the two leaders. It looked like there were other guys having similar problems to me and I saw Dovi crash right in front of me. Things improved towards the end but I was too far from Dani and Jorge to trouble them. We have work to do but we’re not too far off and I am desperate to fight for victories again – for myself and for Ducati.”
NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 6th
“Taking everything into consideration I have to be happy with sixth place – our pace wasn’t bad and looking at the lap times I could have maybe been fighting for a higher position if I was fully fit. When Valentino passed me I managed to stay with him for a while but couldn’t hang on and just had to focus on keeping a pace that allowed me to bring some good points home. I want to thank the team because they made some changes to the bike to give me better grip in the left-hand corners and it worked. Once the race started and the adrenaline kicked in I couldn’t really feel the pain in my hand but I suddenly started to feel it as soon as I crossed the line. The thing I’m most worried about is if I can test tomorrow because it’s going to be a really important session for us.”
1. Jorge LORENZO (YAMAHA) 235 points
2. Dani PEDROSA (REPSOL HONDA TEAM) 158 points
3. Casey STONER (DUCATI) 119 points
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (REPSOL HONDA TEAM) 115 points
5. Valentino ROSSI (YAMAHA) 101 points
