Rossi closes in on title

Valentino Rossi romped to his fifth win of the season in Brno to move a step closer to a sixth FIM MotoGP Championship. The Fiat Yamaha star started the Czech Republic race on pole position ahead of team-mate and nearest challenger Jorge Lorenzo and the duo fought out a race-long duel before the young Spaniard crashed out with five laps remaining to all but end his title hopes. Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa inherited second after Lorenzo's error with Toni Elias, Andrea Dovizioso and Loris Capirossi rounding out the top five. With Casey Stoner beginning his three-race break to recover from a mystery illness, Mika Kallio stepped into the factory Marlboro Ducati team for his debut and was lying in a creditable ninth before crashing on the penultimate lap, while British rider James Toseland was ninth on his Tech 3 Yamaha. Pedrosa led at turn one ahead of Rossi after a trademark quick start but the masterful Italian took just three corners to slide past to leave Lorenzo in third.

Lorenzo soon passed Pedrosa on lap three to chase down Rossi and the pair then exchanged a series of new lap records before Lorenzo made a fine move with seven laps remaining to take the lead. Rossi then made a move at the same corner with five laps to go and Lorenzo buckled under the pressure to crash out and leave Rossi to streak away to a 102nd career win, some 11.766 seconds ahead of Pedrosa. Lorenzo - who also crashed out at Donington last time out - is now 50 points behind Rossi with the absent Stoner back in third in the standings.