Today’s MotoGP race at Brno was a two rider affair between championship title contenders Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, with the two rivals sustaining a race pace untouchable for the rest of the field and in a battle of perfectly balanced machinery and almost perfectly matched laps.
For half the race distance polesitter Jorge Lorenzo lead the race, while Pedrosa stuck to the Yamaha rider, never letting him out of his sights and never letting him escape, and on the 11th lap Pedrosa in perfectly executed pass overtook him while Lorenzo played the shadow and the two were always separated by only one or two tenths of second and then the race really began, with both riders giving it all they had in two spectacular and breathtaking overtakes with hard braking and defensive race lines.
Lorenzo made his move at the Stadium and grabbed the head of the race as the two touched, but it was Pedrosa’s overtake at the Horizont which would be the final and decisive move as Lorenzo could no longer find a place to insert his Yamaha and Pedrosa crossed under the chequered flag with a margin 0.178s to win his second consecutive race and his third of season, and more importantly reduce Lorenzo’s lead in the standings to just 13 point.
Cal Crutchlow rode to a safe third and scoring his maiden podium and his position never came under attack by team mate Andrea Dovizioso who came home in fourth.
Stefand Bradl and Alvaro Bautista were 5th and 6th respectively, while Valentino Rossi fell back to seventh after trying to stick with Dovizioso for a couple of laps. The Italian’s Ducati threw out puffs of scary white smoke twice on the first two laps and another time, later which left everyone remember unlucky Ben Spies at Indianpolis and wondering if the Italian had the same engine issue, but he continued to race but his lap times rose and Bradl and Bautista both easily caught him.
Ben Spies had another torrid race after a bad start he found himself behind Dovizioso and Rossi and he probably was startled by the smoke coming out from the Ducati, and dropped to 11th and then 14th and when he charged back through the field and regain 8th he then lost the front on a right hander and crashed out, collecting another zero points.
Randy de Puniet finished the race in 8th and four seconds ahead of Ducati satellite rider Karel Abraham and his team mate Aleix Espargaro who closed out the top ten. Toni Elias subbing for injured Hector Barbera in Pramac was 11th.
MotoGP Brno Race Results:
01- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 22 laps in 42’51.570
02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.178
03- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 12.343
04- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 18.591
05- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 25.582
06- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 29.451
07- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 34.514
08- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 1’04.285
09- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1’08.278
10- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 1’09.972
02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.178
03- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 12.343
04- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 18.591
05- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 25.582
06- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 29.451
07- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 34.514
08- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 1’04.285
09- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1’08.278
10- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 1’09.972
