Stoner dominates at Czech GP

The Honda RC212V race bikes dominated the Brno GP with a clean sweep of podium, Repsol taking the win via Casey Stoner and Dovizioso in second spot, while the RC212V wearing Gresini livery in third spot thanks to a mature ride by Simoncelli.

This is the first time in the 800cc MotoGP era that Honda has dominated the podium.

Meanwhile 16-year-old Australian rider Arthur Sissis came second in the first of two Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race, the young rider increasingly making a name for himself in the junior class.

Back to MotoGP, and while there was jubilation for Simocelli with his first ever MotoGP podium, Dani Pedrosa will rue a missed opportunity, crashing out while leading the race ahead of eventual winner Stoner.

Casey Stoner's commanding performance suggests that impending fatherhood isn't about to slow him down, winning the race over Andrea Dovizioso by 6.5 seconds - and even in the face of Stoner's own low expectations for the race.

"We knew we could make a strong podium challenge today, but we didn't really expect the race win," said a surprised Stoner. "As soon as the race got underway I was having a good battle with Andrea, but this cost me a little time and I was afraid that Jorge and Dani would stretch away from me. But when I got past I found I had plenty of speed to catch up and the bike felt great.

"I'm very sorry for Dani [Pedrosa], he would have been hard to beat today," added Stoner, referring to his team mate's untimely loss of grip while leading the race. Pedrosa started well, leading the race for the first lap, until Lorenzo reeled him in on the second lap. Then shortly after Pedrosa passed Lorenzo to retake the lead he laid the bike down mid corner after losing front end grip.

"It was a shame. I lost the front and I crashed, that was it!" lamented Pedrosa. "I was not even pushing so hard, I just took the lead and, well I may have tilted the bike too much, maybe the tyre was not warm enough..."

Stoner's sixth win of the season, he's increasingly looking like taking out his second MotoGP world championship, in what would have been a morale boosting win in front of 155,400 fans. He extends his overall lead over reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo from 20 to 32 points, after Lorenzo made a poor tyre choice and ended up fourth.

"After such a hard weekend it's fantastic to come out with a comfortable win, a big thanks to my team who never give up. Tomorrow we'll be back on the 1000 for another day of testing, so I hope the weather stays dry for us!" added Stoner.

Second place for Andrea Dovizioso was a good result for the Italian, who is now only 23 points behind Yamaha rider Lorenzo in the championship standings.
“I’m really happy to be back on the podium, it’s a good result after a difficult weekend and second position is so important for the Championship," explained Dovizioso. "I made a very good start from seventh position and in the first laps I was riding cautiously to save the tyres.

"I’m happy of how I managed the race first with Lorenzo and then with Simoncelli to maintain second position. In the final five laps I pushed harder to maintain the margin from Marco. I didn’t want to fight with him in the last corners," added Dovi, suggesting that Simoncelli is beginning to win back the respect of other riders.

For his first podium in the premier class, Italian rider Marco Simoncelli was stoked with his performance, exclaiming: “I am really happy. I have been very strong this year but it has been tough because we have had some difficult situations to deal with.

"The team and I have never lost faith and finally the result has come, so I want to thank all of them, as well as Honda and anybody else who has maintained their belief in me," added the San Carlo Honda Gresini team rider.

Simoncelli has been accused of being a cowboy in recent times, having caused numerous collisions with other riders and gaining a reputation as a loose cannon.
However today's race showed the Italian was maturing as racer: "On the last lap today I just wanted it to be over and nothing bad to happen and thankfully it all worked out."

Fourth place went to Team Yamaha Factory Racing's Jorge Lorenzo, with his team mate Ben Spies in fifth. Valentino Rossi had a relatively good race finishing sixth after his best qualifying result this year moving him above Pedrosa in the standings to fourth place overall, and his Ducati Corse team mate Nicky Hayden was seventh in the race.

Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was eighth, Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) ninth, and Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) landed himself in tenth spot at Brno in the Czech Republic.

Sadly for local rider Karel Abraham, he crashed early which resulted in a blown engine later in the in race. Cal Crutchlow and Álvaro Bautista were joined by Pedrosa when they crashed out.

Aussie's did well during the weekend with a win in MotoGP for Stoner and a second place in Red Bull Rookies for Sissis. The 16-year-old racer is proving to be a formidable force in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, and has the makings of a top flight rider, almost winning both races, the first from 14-year-old American rider Joe Roberts.

"I couldn't believe the way that Joe went, he was so fast," said Sissis. "I didn't think that I could go with him but I tried. I managed just to catch him at the last corner but then went wide. Good on him, it was a great ride."

In the second race Arthur Sissis was leading on the last lap but crashed three corners from the finish, relinquishing the championship lead by six points to Lorenzo Baldassarri.

MotoGP Championship Standings:
1 Casey STONER Honda AUS 218
2 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha SPA 186
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Honda ITA 163
4 Valentino ROSSI Ducati ITA 118
5 Dani PEDROSA Honda SPA 110
6 Ben SPIES Yamaha USA 109
7 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati USA 103
8 Marco SIMONCELLI Honda ITA 76
9 Colin EDWARDS Yamaha USA 75
10 Hiroshi AOYAMA Honda JPN 70
11 Hector BARBERA Ducati SPA 62
12 Karel ABRAHAM Ducati CZE 46
13 Toni ELIAS Honda SPA 43
14 Alvaro BAUTISTA Suzuki SPA 39
15 Cal CRUTCHLOW Yamaha GBR 34
16 Loris CAPIROSSI Ducati ITA 29
17 Randy DE PUNIET Ducati FRA 19
18 John HOPKINS Suzuki USA 6
19 Kousuke AKIYOSHI Honda JPN 3