Dani Pedrosa, of Spain, rides his Honda during the Czech Republic motorcycle Grand Prix MotoGP race at the Brno Circuit
Dani Pedrosa won the Czech Grand Prix yesterday to end the season’s winning streak of defending world champion Marc Marquez.
The Spanish rider with Repsol Honda covered 22 laps of the 5.403-kilometer Brno circuit in 42 minutes, 47.800 seconds for his 26th MotoGP victory.
Starting fifth, Pedrosa took the lead after overtaking Jorge Lorenzo with 17 laps remaining before cruising to victory.
“Overall I had a good experience at this track,” Pedrosa said. “It’s a little difficult when Marc is winning all the time so I’m very happy.”
Lorenzo finished second, 0.410 behind, and his Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s teammate Valentino Rossi was third, 5.259 seconds behind Pedrosa. Rossi competed with a left little finger injury he sustained in a crash on Saturday.
Marquez came fourth, finishing 10.454 behind the leader.
After winning all 10 previous MotoGP races, Marquez was seeking a record 11th victory. He started on pole but gradually dropped to sixth before rallying to third but Rossi passed him with 10 laps left.
“The Clinica Mobile made a good setting with the finger,” Rossi said. “I’m happy, I finally get to beat Marquez for the first time and I want to be fast in Silverstone.”
The next race is the British Grand Prix on Aug. 31.
Marquez still comfortably leads the overall standings with 263 points and seven races remaining. Pedrosa, his Honda teammate, is second with 186 and Rossi is third on 173.
In Moto2, Spanish rider Esteve Rabat took his fifth victory of the season to stretch his overall lead while Alexis Masbou of France won the Moto3 category for his maiden victory.
The Czech Grand Prix, a traditional stop on the MotoGP circuit, is likely to take place next year in Brno after the organizers announced the regional government promised a necessary subsidy for the race, at least for 2015. AP
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