motorcycle news - Wednesday 19th August 2009
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Rossi victorious after Lorenzo crashes
Valentino Rossi won the Czech MotoGP at Brno to extend his championship lead after Fiat Yahama team-mate Jorge Lorenzo crashed out when leading.
Rossi led from pole until Lorenzo passed him with six laps to go, but one lap later the Spaniard crashed, handing victory to the reigning world champion. Dani Pedrosa was second with Toni Elias, who has lost his job at Gresini Honda next season, taking third.
Rossi's win means he now leads Lorenzo in the championship by 50 points.
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Casey Stoner, who is third in the championship standings, missed this race and will also be absent from the next two as he recovers from illness. Britain's James Toseland claimed another top-10 finish, coming home in ninth place after Mika Kallio and Marco Melandri, who were both ahead of him, took one another out with two laps remaining.
Rossi and Lorenzo were involved in a cat-and-mouse battle, taking it in turn to break the lap record, until Lorenzo briefly took the lead.
Afterwards, reigning world champion Rossi said that the 102nd victory of his career had been a near-perfect race.
"For us it was a great race," he said.
"After the warm-up we made some modifications to give me more feeling in the front, and I made a perfect race," he said.
"I pushed very hard and made Jorge work hard. He was in good shape and very fast - when he overtook me I thought 'ok, now we start the battle'.
"Unfortunately he crashed, but it's good for us - 50 points is a big lead, we are happy." Czech Grand Prix result:1 V Rossi (It) Fiat Yamaha 43min 8.991 sec
2 D Pedrosa (Sp) Repsol Honda 43min 20.757 sec
3 T Elias (Sp) San Carlo Honda Gresini 43min 29.747 sec
4 A Dovizioso (It) Repsol Honda 43min 30.409 sec
5 L Capirossi (It) Rizla Suzuki 43min 30.529 sec
6 N Hayden (US) Ducati 43min 34.535 sec
7 C Edwards (US) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 43min 34.667 sec
8 A de Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 43min 43.100 sec
9 J Toseland (GB) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 43min 44.608 sec
10 R de Puniet (Fr) LCR Honda MotoGP 43min 48.815 sec
11 C Vermeulen (Aus) Rizla Suzuki 43min 49.767 sec
12 N Canepa (It) Pramac Racing 43min 59.652 sec
13 G Talmacsi (Hng) Scot Racing Team MotoGP 44min 08.179 sec
World championship standings:
1 V Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 212 points
2 J Lorenzo (Spn) Yamaha 162
3 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 150
4 D Pedrosa (Spn) Honda 135
5 C Edwards (US) Yamaha 112
6 A Dovizioso (It) Honda 107
7 R de Puniet (Fr) Honda 80
8 M Melandri (Ita) Kawasaki 79
9 L Capirossi (Ita) Suzuki 77
10 C Vermeulen (Aus) Suzuki 72
11 A de Angelis (RSM) Honda 68
12 T Elias (Spn) Honda 63
13 J Toseland (GB) Yamaha 62
14 N Hayden (US) Ducati 57
15 M Kallio (Fin) Ducati 34
16 N Canepa (Ita) Ducati 32
17 S Gibernau (Spn) Ducati 12
18 Y Takahashi (Jpn) Honda 9
19 G Talmacsi (Hng) Honda 8
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