Lorenzo reigns in Brno
Date published : 15 Aug 2010 - 16:01:24
Jorge Lorenzo increased his already commanding lead in the MotoGP World Championship standings with a crushing victory at Sunday's Czech Grand Prix at Brno.
The Fiat Yamaha rider made it seven wins out of 10 starts this season to move 77 points clear of nearest rival Dani Pedrosa in the riders' championship.
Pedrosa failed to convert pole position into victory as he trailed his fellow Spaniard home in second place, five seconds down, while Ducati's Casey Stoner came home in third.
American Ben Spies was again impressive for Tech 3 Yamaha, converting his surprise second place on the grid to fourth at the chequered flag, while the second factory Yamaha of Valentino Rossi came home in a subdued fifth.
Pedrosa held station from Spies off the line but the two leaders were quickly swallowed up by Lorenzo, who lined up third after suffering a crash in qualifying Saturday but moved to the front of the race inside three corners.
Reigning World Superbike champion Spies followed Lorenzo through to briefly take second place, but Pedrosa re-passed on the next lap and was never challenged over the remaining 20 laps.
Suzuki's Loris Capirossi was an early retirement after a fall on lap two, while the second factory Honda of Andrea Dovizioso had a lucky escape when he fell on lap four, the Italian coming to rest in the middle of the track on the exit of turn nine and only just being missed by Nicky Hayden, Rossi and a host of other riders.
Rossi had earlier made a slow start from fifth on the grid to drop to eighth, but the reigning world champion clawed his way back to finish fifth by the flag.
The Italian finished just ahead of the second Ducati of Hayden, while Colin Edwards took seventh for Tech 3 Yamaha and Marco Melandri was eighth for San Carlo Honda Gresini.
Hector Barbera (Paginas Amarillas Aspar) came home in ninth place while Randy de Puniet was an impressive 10th for LCR Honda in his first race back after breaking his leg at the German Grand Prix just four weeks ago.
