Pedrosa ends Marquez's MotoGP run

Marc Marquez bid to become the first premier class rider ever to win the 11 opening races of a MotoGP season has been ended in the Czech GP.

Spanish Honda MotoGP rider Dani Pedrosa

Dani Pedrosa (pic) has ended Marc Marquez's hopes of an 11th straight MotoGP win at the Czech GP. (AAP)

Marc Marquez's hopes of setting a record 11 straight MotoGP wins ended on Sunday as Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa of Spain won the Czech Republic Moto GP in Brno.

Pedrosa, who also won at Brno in 2012, finished the 22 laps on the dry 5.4-kilometre circuit in 42min 47.800sec, ahead of Yamaha duo Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, with Marquez finishing fourth.

Marquez was looking to become the first premier class rider ever to win the 11 opening races of a season.

Italian legend Giacomo Agostini won the opening 10 races of the premier class season in 1968, 1969 and 1970 at a time when he dominated the sport.

However, no one has ever won the first eleven - in part because Agostini's perfect season in 1968 comprised only 10 events.

Marquez, who failed to make it to the podium for the first time since Australia last year, now tops the championship with 263 points, 77 ahead of Pedrosa and 90 ahead of Rossi.

As often this season, Marquez got off to a poor start from pole position, dropping to sixth place.

Lorenzo soon settled down at the front, followed by Pedrosa who overtook him on the sixth lap to nurse his lead with Lorenzo never really getting close enough to fight back.

"I didn't plan the race in this way but fortunately Jorge... opened a gap immediately so I had to change my plan and then push to the limit," said Pedrosa.

"I kept my rhythm until the end but in the end I struggled with my rear grip and was not able to go out strong in the corners," added the 28-year-old who finished 0.410sec ahead of Lorenzo.

"Finally we beat Marc, but unfortunately it wasn't me, it was Dani this time," said Lorenzo.

"After two laps I started feeling not as well as in the first laps and Dani cut me and passed me... and went away."

"The bike wasn't so bad at the end of the race so I tried, pushed to the limit to cut him, but it was too late," added Lorenzo.

Marquez moved up to third after a few laps but instead of narrowing the gap on the two leaders, he found himself under heavy pressure from Rossi.

Shrugging off a heavy crash in Saturday's practice in which he injured the little finger on his left hand, Rossi, who has won five premier class races in Brno, breezed past Marquez midway through the race.

He finished more than five seconds ahead of the championship leader for his 190th podium finish in all classes of motorcycling Grand Prix.

"I was able to do a good race, I'm happy, I had a good pace and it's another podium," Rossi beamed.

"It was a great pleasure to beat Marc one time."

Earlier on Sunday, Spanish Moto 2 championship leader Esteve Rabat dominated the race in his category ahead of Finnish teammate Mika Kallio and Germany's Sandro Cortese.

And in Moto3, Frenchman Alexis Masbou took his first career victory after beating Italy's Enea Bastianini and Britain's Danny Kent in a nerve-wracking finish that saw 16 riders cross the finish line within two seconds.


Share

3 min read

Published

Updated


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world