Ducati rider Casey Stoner ended up only twelve points down on Lorenzo after Donington, although 37 behind Rossi, but his hopes at this stage of the year were more to do with his health than any ongoing title aspirations. Still battling a mystery illness, the Australian had opted to miss three races to have a chance at recovering and regrouping fully. Starting in Brno, the works Marlboro Ducati team selected the usual Pramac Ducati rider Mika Kallio to fill in on the red machine. Pramac’s substitute rider was World Superbike regular Michel Fabrizio, the 24-year-old Italian with 28 previous GP races behind him, starting in 2002.

Also different for the Brno event were the technical regulations. Over the remaining seven races, each rider now has to use no more than five different engines, with each unit to be sealed and tagged in order to monitor this. If anyone fails to make these engines last, the penalty is that ten points will be deducted. This precedes a further change for 2010, when each rider gets only six engines for the 18-race series. The changes, not universally popular, are designed to reduce the costs of running a MotoGP team, and therefore make things easier on the non-works entrants.

Stoner wasn’t the only casualty here, although he was the only absentee. Randy de Puniet was competing with an injured left ankle and foot picked up in a motocross accident, and meanwhile both Rossi and Kallio had crashed during qualifying. Valentino didn’t seem the worst for wear as he still secured pole position, just quicker than Lorenzo on the other blue Yamaha M1. Rossi, a six time winner at Brno, was therefore first on the grid for the fourth time in the last five attempts this year. It was also pole 46 in the class for number 46.

Apart from one appearance up front for Nicky Hayden this year, Stoner has been the only Ducati rider to qualify in the top four. In his absence, the two leading Yamahas were pursued here by four Honda men, split by another Yamaha rider. Repsol supported works riders Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso, the race winner three weeks ago, were third and sixth respectively. Fifth went to Monster Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards.

The San Carlo Gresini team were best of the customer Honda runners, with Toní Elías fourth and Alex de Angelis seventh. Toní was therefore recording his best start position of the season to date, but ironically both riders are to be replaced in 2010 and neither had secured an alternative ride as yet. Elías was of course second in this race a year earlier, and had won in a previous 125cc GP. There were three Spaniards in the first four, with the other two also former Brno winners.

Hayden was eighth on his Marlboro machine, in front of his predecessor Loris Capirossi, the winner here three years ago. This year Loris was split from his Rizla Suzuki partner Chris Vermeulen by tenth man Kallio. Niccolò Canepa was a best yet twelfth for Pramac Ducati, ahead of Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda), a 250 winner here. Then came James Toseland (Tech 3), a Superbike winner here; Marco Melandri (Hayate Kawasaki), with three former wins. Fabrizio headed only Gábor Talmácsi (Scot Honda).

For the race, only Vermeulen went for the medium compound Bridgestone tyre, using one on the front of his Suzuki, with everyone else taking the hardest rubber choice all round. Rossi and Pedrosa both got good starts, but the Spaniard was on the inside for the first right-hander and surged past his rival to get into the bend first. The first turn is a long loop, followed by a fast kink left onto a short straight. Then there is a braking zone for the left at turn three, and here Valentino overtook on the inside of Dani.

Turn three also saw Lorenzo recover third from Elías, so that Rossi led Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Elías, Dovizioso, Capirossi, Edwards, Hayden, de Angelis, de Puniet, Kallio, Toseland, Talmácsi and Melandri. To begin with the first six stretched away from the rest, but soon the pace of the three in front got them away from Elías, Dovizioso and Capirossi. Pedrosa set an early fastest lap, but Rossi responded and threatened to creep out of range. This led Lorenzo to overtake the Honda man, going to the inside for the uphill left at turn eleven.

The pedigree of the 2009 Yamaha YZR-M1 800 soon told as Rossi and Lorenzo began to move into a race of their own and leave Pedrosa behind. Their margin grew to several seconds as the two Yamaha riders traded fastest laps and were always pretty closely matched. They were well clear with six laps left to run, at which stage Lorenzo moved into the lead going for the inside at turn three. Rossi tried to stay outside his team-mate round the turn, to have the line for the next right, but Jorge held him off.

One lap later it was Rossi’s turn to make an attack on Lorenzo for the inside of turn three. He didn’t get alongside as the Spaniard had done previously, possibly because Jorge was a bit wide and braking late in order to defend his lead. The result was that the 22-year-old tipped over on the brakes and he crashed out of the race. Valentino had been close enough to his rival to force the mistake and hadn’t even needed to overtake.

Rossi was now over fourteen seconds in the lead, with new second man Pedrosa equally clear of those behind, and this was how they reached the flag. The race for what became third place had continued between Elías, Dovizioso and Capirossi. For a long time Toní held off the challenge, but in the end Andrea got through. However, turn one then saw the Spaniard go by again on the inside, only to leave a tighter line for the Repsol machine to get back through. The exit of the bend saw Dovizioso fighting to keep the Honda up and moving forward, which he did.

But third was not settled, as the long right-hand turn ten at the bottom of the hill saw Elías overtake Dovizioso again on the inside. From there he earned a little bit of breathing space, taking third as Dovizioso fought off Capirossi right to the chequered flag. The next position had continued to be disputed by Edwards and Hayden, with the Ducati rider taking the place in the later part of the race. Behind them, de Angelis and Kallio had shaken off the injured de Puniet, but moving through the field to race them in the late stages was Melandri.

Kallio and Melandri were behind Edwards late on, having both got the better of de Angelis, but Marco’s charge ended at the last corner of the penultimate lap. The Brno track has several left-right corner combinations, with turns thirteen and fourteen no exception. Melandri got onto the inside of Kallio for the second of these, taking momentum from the left, but Mika came back across for the turn and hit the side of the Kawasaki. The black machine was ahead of the red one at this point, but the Finn’s line meant he obviously didn’t see anything until it was too late. Both riders crashed.

Eighth therefore went to de Angelis, with Toseland ahead of de Puniet for ninth. Vermeulen, Canepa and Talmácsi rounded out the results table. Three men had crashed, following on from the earlier retirement of Fabrizio, his braking arm apparently not up to the full demands of a MotoGP bike after a couple of years since his last outing on a Honda RC212V.

Valentino Rossi’s championship chase was considerably strengthened after the race at Brno, with the absence of Casey Stoner and the crash of his obvious rival Jorge Lorenzo. Dani Pedrosa closed to within 15 points of Stoner, and should surely have moved in front by the time the Australian returns; but meanwhile Rossi is now fifty points clear of Lorenzo. Podium places all the way would probably be enough for the Italian now.

Toní Elías was the beneficiary of Lorenzo’s exit, as far as getting on the podium was concerned, but his had been a notable ride anyway, and served notice that he would be worth employing to any teams that might have slots still to fill for 2010. As he joined Pedrosa on the podium, Honda were able to say that they were now exactly 100 podium results ahead of Yamaha in the top GP class. It was also the first appearance there for a Gresini rider since 2007. Who is going to be up there next time out?

Standings after eleven races: Rossi 212; Lorenzo 162; Stoner 150; Pedrosa 135; Edwards 112; Dovizioso 107; de Puniet 80; Melandri 78; Capirossi 76; Vermeulen 72.
Yamaha 255; Honda 184; Ducati 166; Suzuki 100; Kawasaki 78.

It’s the time of year when rumours about who is going where for the next season start to take shape. For 2010 there are a number of notable changes being lined up, which include three successful riders moving up from the 250cc support class - Marco Simoncelli, Álvaro Bautista and Héctor Barberá. Simoncelli joins Melandri in the Gresini team, with the more experienced rider returning to a team he had been with for three years previously.

Bautista reportedly will join Capirossi at Suzuki, with Vermeulen apparently therefore offering himself to the Tech 3 team in place of Toseland. Decisions within the Yamaha camp have not been finalised, although with both Pedrosa and Dovizioso staying at Repsol Honda for two more years there is no slot there for Lorenzo. Possibly also in the frame for a Yamaha berth is current WSB runner Ben Spies, who has raced three times on a GP Suzuki.

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