Dani Pedrosa, set off from pole position and rode a beautiful race to take his Repsol Honda into second place behind arch rival Jorge Lorenzo in the MotoGP race at the Czech Grand Prix on Sunday.
Pedrosa's team-mate Andrea Dovizioso was in the hunt for a rostrum place until he crashed out unhurt on lap four.
Pedrosa played his hand for all it was worth, keeping the gap to Lorenzo at under a second for lap after lap, hoping to push the fellow Spaniard into a costly mistake. Looking for his third win of the season after victories in Italy and Germany, he kept taking a few tenths of a second out of Lorenzo's advantage only to see them taken away again. Eventually the gap opened to over a second and though Pedrosa never gave up he could no longer threaten for the win.
In the 125 Grand Prix Marc Márquez rode a heroic race on his Red Bull Derbi after dislocating his left shoulder in a practice crash. The Brno circuit puts a high demand on swift changes of direction and that made it a very difficult and painful experience for the 17-year-old Spaniard.
In damp and tricky conditions, he made a great start from the front row and hung on superbly to the leaders until a drying track completely shredded his rear rain tyre and made his physical woes even more of a problem. Fighting a wildly sliding 125 Derbi, he was forced to slow, and was caught and passed by Jonas Folger and Jacob Kornfeil, two of the other Red Bull youngsters. Marc finished seventh, but still holds a handsome 15-point championship lead.
Kornfeil's great fifth was a fabulous home result for the 17-year-old Czech who is in the middle of his first 125 Grand Prix season. He clinched the 2009 Rookies Cup at the same venue just a year ago.
For more from Brno, head to our dedicated event page.
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