Submitted by David Emmett on
Results of the MotoGP race from Brno:
Valentino Rossi took victory in the MotoGP race at Brno, after a mistake by Jorge Lorenzo handed him victory. Rossi quickly took the lead, with Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo following, and the three of them soon dropped the rest of the field. Once Lorenzo got past Pedrosa on lap 4, the two Fiat Yamaha men left Pedrosa behind, and a tense battle unfolded for the lead, with each man smashing the lap record on alternating laps.
Rossi had been leading but with 6 to go, Lorenzo stuffed it inside his team mate into turn 3. Rossi settled behind Lorenzo, and tried pushing the Spaniard back, taking a long hard look at Lorenzo at a number of places round the track. On the next approach to turn 3, Rossi took another look at Lorenzo, Lorenzo braking later, wider and deeper than ever to hold the Italian off. Too deep, as it turned out, and Lorenzo folded the front, crashing out and handing another 25 points to Valentino Rossi. The Italian now has a 50 point lead over his team mate with just 6 races left. Rossi's 7th MotoGP title just go an awful lot closer.
Dani Pedrosa came home in 2nd, well off the pace, while Toni Elias did his prospects of finding another MotoGP ride good by taking the final spot on the podium ahead of Pedrosa's team mate Andrea Dovizioso.
| Pos. | No. | Rider | Manufacturer | Time | Diff |
| 1 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | YAMAHA | 43'08.991 | |
| 2 | 3 | Dani PEDROSA | HONDA | 43'20.757 | 11.766 |
| 3 | 24 | Toni ELIAS | HONDA | 43'29.747 | 20.756 |
| 4 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | HONDA | 43'30.409 | 21.418 |
| 5 | 65 | Loris CAPIROSSI | SUZUKI | 43'30.529 | 21.538 |
| 6 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | DUCATI | 43'34.535 | 25.544 |
| 7 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | YAMAHA | 43'34.667 | 25.676 |
| 8 | 15 | Alex DE ANGELIS | HONDA | 43'43.100 | 34.109 |
| 9 | 52 | James TOSELAND | YAMAHA | 43'44.608 | 35.617 |
| 10 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | HONDA | 43'48.815 | 39.824 |
| 11 | 7 | Chris VERMEULEN | SUZUKI | 43'49.767 | 40.776 |
| 12 | 88 | Niccolo CANEPA | DUCATI | 43'59.652 | 50.661 |
| 13 | 41 | Gabor TALMACSI | HONDA | 44'08.179 | 59.188 |
| Not Classified | |||||
| 36 | Mika KALLIO | DUCATI | 39'38.278 | 2 laps | |
| 33 | Marco MELANDRI | KAWASAKI | 39'38.518 | 2 laps | |
| 99 | Jorge LORENZO | YAMAHA | 33'15.284 | 5 laps | |
| 84 | Michel FABRIZIO | DUCATI | 12'13.902 | 16 laps | |
Comments
What can you say?
You've got to feel for Lorenzo, but the over-riding response to that race simply has to be 'greatest of all time'. In fact I got to wondering whether Rossi might eventually go down as the greatest sportsman (of any category) of all time by the time he finally hangs the helmet up. Who can compare?
Oh and Kallio needs to take
Oh and Kallio needs to take the blinkers off... Melandri had that corner, no question.
Yeah...
Even if Kallio was technically in the right, (I'm not saying he was, it looked to me like Melandri had it clean) it was stupid to not be watching well enough to avoid that mess.
I'm not one for the concept
I'm not one for the concept of GOAT, but since you're asking, I'd have to say Babe Ruth (certainly the greatest baseball player of all time as he had Hall of Fame stats both as a pitcher and a batter..., plus he could do it loaded a good part of the time).
Lorenzo
Lorenzo really screwed himself on a risky move there. He seems to have effectively handed the championship over to Rossi. Barring engine problems due to the rationing rules or some falls, Rossi appears untouchable. On top of that is the psychological blow to Lorenzo. I feel bad for him, but this really underscores the need for him to just re-up with Yamaha and work on staying on the bike.
I was really looking forward to a closer season.
Lorenzo's Manager
Did I hear this right? Lorenzo's team manager saying that he cracked under the pressure from Rossi? (or words to that effect).
I'm not entirely sure that I would want my manager telling the world press that I was buckling under pressure - let them draw those conclusions themselves! To say that he made a mistake would be enough, and leave it at that.
Anyway, had to agree with the Eurosport guys, we were robbed of was was going to be another classic finale to a race!