Lorenzo claims seventh victory

From motogp.com

Jorge Lorenzo’s phenomenal 2010 form continued at the Cardion ab Grand Prix Czech Republic on Sunday where the Fiat Yamaha rider won his seventh race of the season.

A front row start was converted into another 25 points by the Spaniard, who maintained his record of having finished inside the top two in every race so far.

The sun was shining in stark contrast to the fears of poor weather that had preceded the race as just over 148,000 enthusiastic fans packed out the Brno circuit, and Lorenzo engaged in an early battle with rival Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) – who started from pole position – for the lead.

Lorenzo and Pedrosa exchanged the fastest lap time in the preliminary stages of the race as they set the pace but the Championship leader slowly began to pull away, the pair well ahead of Casey Stoner (Ducati Team) in third place.

The riders became more separated as the race reached its finale, and Lorenzo cruised across the line 5.494 secs. ahead of Pedrosa to extend his Championship lead over his fellow Spaniard to 77 points.

"After my problems yesterday and the crash I didn't expect this today, I thought it would be much more of a struggle,” said the 23-year-old Lorenzo. “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."

Pedrosa stated that while the result was not the one he had hoped for he was pleased to be back on the podium. The Repsol Honda rider produced a good response to his DNF at Laguna Seca in the previous round as he made a trademark rapid start from pole.

“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,” said the 24-year-old after the race. “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 tire temperature and braked too early, which allowed Ben [Spies] 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 and though I tried to adjust my riding to improve this Jorge was gradually able to open the gap.”

The Repsol Honda rider was followed onto the podium by Stoner, who finished third at almost six seconds back and moved into third in the Championship ahead of Andrea Dovizioso.

Stoner’s consistency of finishing in the top three continued at Brno as the Australian scored his fifth straight podium of the campaign. The 24-year-old said he had hoped for more after finding some promising adjustments to the set-up of his Desmosedici in qualifying.

“It’s more points and we are dragging ourselves back up the leader board. We were a long way down at one point but got back up to third, but we didn’t make up any ground on the front two… we haven’t been since the beginning of the season,” said Stoner.

“We started the weekend a little slow and gradually got more speed. Yesterday afternoon I thought we had something at the end of qualifying because the bike started good but not great, so I really wanted to check it in warm up but that was wet so we went into the race a little bit in the unknown.

"We were quite lucky really. The start of the race was bad because I was closing the front and there was too much weight on the front, but as the fuel weight came down the bike started to work a lot better and I felt more comfortable and was able to improve my lap times and position. So we’re happy with another podium but feel we should have been pushing more towards the front this weekend.”

Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) placed fourth from his first MotoGP front row grid position, having made an impressive start, with Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) fifth at just over four seconds off the rookie.

American duo Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) were sixth and seventh respectively, with Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team), Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) and the returning Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) completing the top 10.

A frustrating weekend was finalized for Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) as the rookie slid out on the last corner of the final lap, having just passed Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team), who took 11th.

There were two early fallers as Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) and Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) went down inside the opening three laps, the latter managing to avoid collisions with a number of oncoming bikes while stranded in the middle of the track coming out of turn nine. The Italian rejoined the back of the race but was forced to retire shortly after.

Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) was another victim of misfortune when his difficulties continued as he crashed out.

A controlled and well-measured ride from Toni Elías delivered the Spaniard’s fourth win of the 2010 Moto2 campaign at Brno, which also marked the Gresini team’s 100th podium finish in the World Championship.

The victorious Elías met the chequered flag with an advantage of 2.312 secs. over Japanese rider Yuki Takahashi (Tech 3 Racing), with Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) third behind Takahashi by just over six-tenths of a second.

Iannone now sits second in the Championship standings. Elías’ lead at the top remains strong after nine rounds and he is now 55 points clear.

Nicolas Terol enjoyed a dominant victory in the 125cc contest at the Cardion ab Grand Prix Czech Republic, putting himself right back in the Championship race as Marc Márquez finished seventh.

MotoGP Race Results
1. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha 43:22.638
2. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda +5.494
3. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati +11.426
4. Ben SPIES (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha +13.723
5. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha +17.930
6. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati +26.815
7. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha +33.396
8. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda +39.406
9. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati +39.639
10. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda +40.893
11. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda +42.032
12. Aleix ESPARGARO (SPA) Pramac Ducati +47.091
13. Alex DE ANGELIS (RSM) Interwetten Honda +51.368
Not Classified
Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki +1 Lap
Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Ducati +15 Laps
Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda +16 Laps
Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki +21 Laps

MotoGP Standings
1. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha) 235
2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda) 158
3. Casey STONER (Ducati) 119
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 115
5. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 101
6. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati) 99
7. Ben SPIES (Yamaha) 90
8. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda) 75
9. Marco MELANDRI (Honda) 61
10. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 57
11. Marco SIMONCELLI (Honda) 54
12. Hector BARBERA (Ducati) 48
13. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki) 36
14. Aleix ESPARGARO (Ducati) 32
15. Mika KALLIO (Ducati) 31
16. Alvaro BAUTISTA (Suzuki) 25
17. Hiroshi AOYAMA (Honda) 18
18. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda) 11
19. Roger Lee HAYDEN (Honda) 5
20. Kousuke AKIYOSHI (Honda) 4
21. Wataru YOSHIKAWA (Yamaha) 1