Casey Stoner conquers the Czech Republic

The Repsol Honda rider seized control of the MotoGP race at the Cardion ab Grand Prix České republiky race, with Dovizioso second and Simoncelli capturing his first podium of his premier class history.Casey Stoner captured his sixth win of the season in front of 155,400 fans at Brno for Sunday’s race, stretching his Championship lead to 32 points over Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing).

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) got the hole shot off from his first pole position of the season, with Lorenzo taking the lead from him on the second lap. Stoner then took second from the Yamaha rider, just as Pedrosa crashed out of the front of the field, handing the Australian the lead.

While Stoner lengthened the gap at the head of the pack, Lorenzo came under pressure from Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), the Italian passing the Spaniard to take and hold second position. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) then caught and passed Lorenzo, moving into the third podium spot and keeping it until the finish line, the first podium of his MotoGP class career.


Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) slowly moved in on Lorenzo, but the American was unable to get close enough to make a move for fourth position, finishing the race behind his team mate in fifth.

Valentino Rossi was the first Ducati Team rider across the line, finishing sixth off his best qualifying result of the season. The Italian’s team mate Nicky Hayden followed in seventh, with Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) rounding out the top ten.

Cal Crutchlow crashed out in turn one, resulting in the fourth DNF of the season for the British rookie. Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) also had a fall; he rejoined the race but later retired with a mechanical failure. The two were joined in the pits in retirement by Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki), who low sided trying to make a move on Rossi for sixth position.(From www.motogp.com)