MotoGP: Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) fights off Lorenzo and Marquez to win the Czech GP.

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Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) has taken his second win of the season in incredible style in the Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky as a three-way fight for the win raged between the 04, his Ducati teammate Jorge Lorenzo and reigning Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team). By the flag it was a Lorenzo vs Marquez classic on the final lap to decide the podium positions, with the ‘Spartan’ taking second and Marquez, on his 100th MotoGP™ start, forced to settle for third – nevertheless marginally extending his Championship lead. It was also an anniversary for ‘DesmoDovi’ as the Italian celebrated his 100th race for Ducati with the win.

It was Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) who took the holeshot from second on the grid, with polesitter Dovizioso just losing out and shuffled back a place as Marquez retained his P3 through the first corner. Lorenzo wasn’t able to make a move from the second row and settled into fourth, with drama then hitting the early stages as a multi-rider incident saw Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), Bradley Smith (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and wildcard Stefan Bradl (HRC Honda Team) crash out.

At the front ‘DesmoDovi’ was quick to strike for the lead and he and Rossi dueled it out, but it was the 04 Ducati ahead over the line. Marquez then began to attack Rossi, before Lorenzo struck instead and picked the pocket of the number 93. Dovi led Rossi led Lorenzo led Marquez and it seemed it could be in for another Dutch GP battle royal – but that wasn’t to become the story of the race.

It first became a long train with Dovizioso at the front and squabbles breaking out throughout, with Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) vs Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing) vs both and the fight at the front stretching all the way from Dovi through Rossi, Marquez, Petrucci, Crutchlow, Zarco, Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins and Andrea Iannone and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team).

With ten laps to go, however, a group of six had begun to emerge, including those who would fight for the win. Dovizioso, Marquez, Rossi, Crutchlow, Lorenzo and Petrucci had pulled out a gap, and the final showdown would be whittled down further. With expected race pace within the 1:56s and no one putting that in, it was a game of high speed chess – before five laps to go saw Lorenzo take Crutchlow to put Marquez in the middle of the Ducati duo at the front. The pin was soon to be pulled.

A lap later and the laptimes dropped – with Dovizioso, Marquez and Lorenzo all bolting in unison to suddenly pull out a gap on Crutchlow and Rossi on the chase. The trio slammed down into the 1:56s and showed their hand, setting up the Czech GP for an incredible final few laps.

Lorenzo was the first to make a serious move, attacking Marquez on the inside of Turn 14 and carrying the momentum up the inside of Dovizioso at the final corner in a stunning almost-double overtake…but it didn’t stick. ‘DesmoDovi’ took it back as Lorenzo headed a bit wide and was forced back into second, but the gloves were off. On the penultimate lap Lorenzo attacked for the lead again but again headed wide, with Dovi slicing back through before Marquez tried it near the end of the lap against Lorenzo. It was, however, as-you-were over the line for the final lap.

Marquez attacked Lorenzo at Turn 4 as the duel began, but the ‘Spartan’ hit back with a stunner into Turn 6 that sat up the reigning Champion. With Dovizioso then with a bit of margin at the front, the number 99 Ducati threw everything at it to chase down his teammate – but through the final corner neither was just close enough for that final attack. That made it an impressive second win of the season for Dovizioso and his first at Brno, with Lorenzo second and Marquez completing the podium on his 100th MotoGP™ start.

The fight wasn’t over, however. Just behind the breathless battle for the lead, another duel was lighting up the final lap, and it was Rossi who was able to pick the pocket of Crutchlow and beat the Brit to the line by just hundredths – taking the rider from Tavullia over the 6000 career points mark 22 years after his first ever GP win taken at Brno. Petrucci took sixth ahead of Zarco, with Pedrosa pouncing on the Suzuki riders to take eighth by the end. Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Team) was also able to move forward and took ninth in his 150th premier class race, with Iannone beating Rins to the honour of completing the top ten.

Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) was P12 ahead of top rookie Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) back from injury, with fellow debutant Hafizh Syahrin (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) for pretty close company in fourteenth. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini), also returning from injury, completed the points scorers.

MONSTER ENERGY GRAND PRIX ČESKÉ REPUBLIKY

MotoGP Race Classification 2018.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	165.5	41’07.728
2	20	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Ducati Team	Ducati	165.5	+0.178
3	16	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	165.4	+0.368
4	13	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	165.3	+2.902
5	11	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	165.3	+2.958
6	10	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	165.2	+3.768
7	9	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	165.1	+6.159
8	8	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	165.0	+7.479
9	7	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Angel Nieto Team	Ducati	165.0	+7.575
10	6	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	164.9	+8.326
11	5	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	164.9	+8.653
12	4	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	164.4	+16.549
13	3	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	164.2	+19.603
14	2	55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	164.1	+21.381
15	1	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	163.9	+23.159
16		12	Thomas LUTHI	SWI	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	163.6	+27.673
17		30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	163.6	+28.311
18		17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Angel Nieto Team	Ducati	162.8	+41.172
19		50	Sylvain GUINTOLI	FRA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	162.7	+42.411
20		10	Xavier SIMEON	BEL	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	162.1	+50.941
Not Classified
		53	Tito RABAT	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	164.2	13 Laps
		45	Scott REDDING	GBR	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	162.1	16 Laps
		38	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	36.7	20 Laps
Not Finished 1st Lap
		25	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha		0 Lap
		6	Stefan BRADL	GER	HRC Honda Team	Honda		0 Lap

MotoGP World Standing 2018.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	181
2	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	132
3	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	ITA	113
4	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	SPA	109
5	Jorge LORENZO	Ducati	SPA	105
6	Johann ZARCO	Yamaha	FRA	97
7	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	ITA	94
8	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Honda	GBR	90
9	Andrea IANNONE	Suzuki	ITA	81
10	Jack MILLER	Ducati	AUS	61
11	Alex RINS	Suzuki	SPA	58
12	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	SPA	57
13	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Ducati	SPA	51
14	Pol ESPARGARO	KTM	SPA	32
15	Tito RABAT	Ducati	SPA	30
16	Hafizh SYAHRIN	Yamaha	MAL	24
17	Franco MORBIDELLI	Honda	ITA	22
18	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia	SPA	17
19	Bradley SMITH	KTM	GBR	13
20	Scott REDDING	Aprilia	GBR	12
21	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Honda	JPN	10
22	Mika KALLIO	KTM	FIN	6
23	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	CZE	4
24	Thomas LUTHI	Honda	SWI
25	Stefan BRADL	Honda	GER
26	Xavier SIMEON	Ducati	BEL
27	Sylvain GUINTOLI	Suzuki	FRA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com

MotoGP: Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) fights off Lorenzo and Marquez to win the Czech GP.

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MONSTER ENERGY GRAND PRIX ČESKÉ REPUBLIKY

MotoGP World Standing 2018.

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