Stoner takes Czech Republic victory

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.

After the race, Stoner was overjoyed when he spoke to the press.

"We knew we could make a strong podium challenge today but we didn't really expect the race win," Stoner explained. "As soon as the race got underway I was having a good battle with Andrea (Dovizioso) but this cost me a little time and I was afraid that Jorge (Lorenzo) 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!"