Lorenzo blows away rivals with clinical Brno win; Rossi struggles to fifth

Jorge Lorenzo took an impressive seventh win of the season in Brno this afternoon 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.

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.

Another maximum-points haul for Lorenzo leaves the young Mallorcan 77 points clear of Pedrosa in the standings, with eight rounds remaining. Rossi holds on to fifth, 14 points behind Andrea Dovizioso. Tomorrow will see both Fiat Yamaha riders back out on track, weather permitting, for a one-day test before the bikes are shipped off to Indianapolis for the second US round of the season in two week's time.

"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" - Jorge Lorenzo.

"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" - Valentino Rossi.

Grand Prix of the Czech Republic Results:
1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 43'22.638
2. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team + 5.494
3. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team + 11.426
4. Ben Spies (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 13.723
5. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team + 17.930
6. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team + 26.815
7. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 33.396
8. Marco Melandri (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini + 39.406
9. Hector Barbera (SPA) Aspar Team + 39.639
10. Randy de Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP + 40.893
11. Marco Simoncelli (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini + 42.032
12. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Pramac Green Team + 47.091
13. Alex de Angelis (ITA) Interwetten Honda MotoGP + 51.368

NOT CLASSIFIED
Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1 Lap
Mika Kallio (FIN) Pramac Green Team 15 Lap
Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda Team 16 Lap
Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 21 Lap

Championship Standings:
1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 235
2. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 158
3. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 119
4. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda Team 115
5. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 101
6. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team 99
7. Ben Spies (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 90
8. Randy de Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 75
9. Marco Melandri (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 61
10. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 57
11. Marco Simoncelli (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 54
12. Hector Barbera (SPA) Aspar Team 48
13. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 36
14. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Pramac Green Team 32
15. Mika Kallio (FIN) Pramac Green Team 31
16. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 25
17. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Interwetten-Honda MotoGP 18
18. Alex de Angelis (ITA) Interwetten Honda MotoGP 11
19. Kousuke Akiyoshi (JPN) Interwetten Honda MotoGP 4
20. Wataru Yoshikawa (JPN) Fiat Yamaha Team 1

Brno: Record Lap
J. Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2009, 1'56.670

Brno: Best Lap
V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2009, 1'56.145