Stoner Dominates, Dovizioso Second, Simoncelli's First Podium

Honda riders monopolised the podium at Brno this afternoon, dominating a race that was full of high tension. Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V) ran away from the pack to score his sixth win of the year in awesome style ahead of team-mate Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V), while Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) finally scored his first premier-class podium. It might have been even better for Honda had not pole-sitter Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) slid off moments after taking the lead in the early stages.

The race started in warmer conditions than those experienced in practice and qualifying – with track temperature up seven degrees on yesterday – but Honda’s top two MotoGP teams took the challenge in their stride. Pedrosa leapt away from the grid to lead into the first corner, but it was reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) who led at the end of the first lap. Pedrosa re-passed his fellow Spaniard at the first turn on lap three, Casey successfully attacking the Yamaha two corners later, only for Pedrosa to slide off at the very next turn. The former 125 and 250 World Champion – who walked away unscathed – was mystified by the accident.

Stoner was now in the lead and he didn’t waste time building an advantage over his pursuers. Within four laps he was two seconds in front of Dovizioso who had also worked his way past Lorenzo. Then by half-distance the Australian was more than five seconds ahead. At one point the gap was more than eight seconds, but in the final laps he eased off to cross the line 6.5s up on his team-mate. It was an especially impressive performance considering that Stoner and his crew had struggled to get the best out of his RCV during practice. And the fact that Lorenzo was relegated to fourth by Dovizioso and Simoncelli means that Stoner extended his championship lead to 32 points with seven races to go.

Dovizioso didn’t have an easy time as he sped towards his fourth second-place finish of the year. Lorenzo briefly re-passed the Italian in the early stages, after he had had a big moment, then Dovi got back into second once more only to come under serious pressure from Marco Simoncelli for much of the remainder of the race. Dovizioso’s fifth podium of the year reinforced his third place in the points standings, now just 23 points behind Lorenzo.

Simoncelli was understandably delighted with his first podium finish, less than a second down on Dovizioso. At one point in the closing stages it looked like he was stirring himself to attack the Repsol rider but he couldn’t quite make it. Nevertheless third place had a very sweet taste for the former 250 World Champion who had come so close on several occasions earlier this year, only to slide off or suffer another setback.

Casey Stoner

Repsol Honda: Race winner
“We knew we could make a strong podium challenge today, but we didn’t really expect the race win. As soon as the race got underway I was having a good battle with Andrea, but this cost me a little time and I was afraid that Jorge and Dani would stretch away from me, but when I got past I found I had plenty of speed to catch up and the bike felt great. I passed Jorge and then Dani sadly crashed out so I pushed to see if I could pull a gap and I was able to do so quite quickly, then from this point it was a matter of managing the race. I’m very sorry for Dani, he would have been hard to beat today. After such a hard weekend it’s fantastic to come out with a comfortable win, a big thanks to my team who never give up, they always support me so a huge thanks to them. Tomorrow we’ll be back on the 1000 for another day of testing, so I hope the weather stays dry for us!"

Andrea Dovizioso

Repsol Honda: 2nd
“I’m really happy to be back on the podium, it’s a good result after a difficult weekend and second position is so important for the championship. In the warm-up we made some small changes and my feeling improved. I arrived at the race very determined and I made a very good start from seventh position. In the first laps I was riding cautiously to save the tyres. I had good pace and when Dani crashed I tried to stay with Casey, but I made a mistake at turn 13 and I almost went off the track. I lost contact and from that moment Casey built a gap that was impossible to catch. I’m happy of how I managed the race first with Lorenzo and then with Simoncelli to maintain second position. In the final five laps I pushed harder, lapping under 1m 58s to maintain the margin from Marco. I didn’t want to fight with him in the last corners. I want to thank Honda and the team for the good work, despite the fact that we struggled slightly over the weekend, we have demonstrated one more time that in the race we are there and I’m really looking forward to Indy in two weeks time.”