Flying Spaniard obliterates Brno

Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo took an impressive seventh win of the season at the Cardion ab Czech Grand Prix, held at the Brno circuit on Sunday, August 15.

The Spaniard dissected the track with almost clinical precision, leading from the first lap to the chequered flag, becoming only the third premier-class rider in history to finish in the top two at the opening 10 races of the season. In stark contrast to his Fiat Yamaha teammate’s good fortunes, Valentino Rossi ran into problems from the start and could only manage fifth.

Despite surrendering pole position for the first time in six races, some bold moves on Lorenzo’s part around the first two turns saw him take the lead before the first split, his Yamaha M1’s front-end troubles of the previous day clearly a thing of the past. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) was nipping at his heels for the first few laps, but every time his fellow countryman closed the gap Lorenzo responded with renewed vigour, and by the 10th lap he was a second clear.

From then on Lorenzo was unchallenged, and he crossed the line 5.494sec clear of Pedrosa to take the 33rd win of his career, and his 12th in MotoGP.

“After my problems on Saturday and the crash I didn’t expect this win; I thought it would be much more of a struggle,” said Lorenzo. “To take my seventh win in one season is fantastic – thank you to all of my team for such a good job after our earlier difficulties,” he added.

Australia’s Casey Stoner (Ducati Team) rounded out the podium in third, claiming his fifth podium finish and moving up to third in the MotoGP championship standings. “To be honest I can’t be completely happy with this result, even though it is always good to be on the podium,” said Stoner, adding that he struggled with his bike’s set-up at Brno. “I was struggling with the front for the first few laps and lost too much ground on the two leaders. 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,” he said.

American Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) rode a strong race to finish in fourth, with Rossi home in fifth.

In other classes, Australia's Anthony West (MZ Racing Team)  finished 18th in Moto2, while Joshua Hook finished an impressive sixth in race two of the Brno round of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup.

Another maximum-points haul for Lorenzo leaves the young Mallorcan on 235 points, 77 points clear of Pedrosa (158 points) in the MotoGP standings. Stoner is in third on 119 points, with eight rounds remaining. The next round will see the MotoGP circus head to the USA for the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix, slated for Sunday, August 29.

Click on the following link for full results and standings.