Highside

In a race where the only scraps seemed to happen farther down the order, the final laps brought a charge on from Jorge Lorenzo that no man could hold off. A disappointing start saw the Mallorcan slide from 2nd on the grid all the way down to 5th, and for the first thee quarters of the race, he seemed to be out of the picture.

Indeed, up until the penultimate lap it seemed that poleman and fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa would walk away with another win after taking the holeshot into the first corner and never looking back. Valentino Rossi rocketed up from 4th on the grid to 2nd, and despite his injured shoulder, put out a superb ride. Superb was still not enough, however, as the Italian found himself overtaken by his teammate with just five laps to go.

Nothing’s impossible for these Untouchables, however. Just as was the case in Qatar, Lorenzo found magical speed in his M1 during the final laps, launching a drive that carried him from over two seconds down on Rossi, all the way to the win. In the final two laps, Lorenzo and Pedrosa launched into a vicious scrap, almost colliding at one point, as the two rivals fought bitterly into every corner. With half a lap remaining, Lorenzo forced Pedrosa wide, sealing the win.

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As it has been widely rumored and expected, Suzuki announced today that they are re-signing Loris Capirossi for the 2010 season.  The Italian, who will be 37 years old at the start of next season, is being kept on to continue helping with the development of the GSV-R, which has failed to be competitive so far.  Despite this, Capirossi has proven his skill time and time again, riding a less-than-ideal bike to three 5th place finishes.

Capirossi will be joined by Alvaro Bautista, who had already announced his 2-year contract with Suzuki.  Bautista, currently in 2nd place in the 250cc runnings, will be hoping to prove himself worthy of stepping up to a more competitive factory team in 2012.

Of course, with the second spot on the Suzuki roster filled, that means that current Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen has to find a new place to ride for 2010.  Vermeulen, whose popularity with the Australian fan base was not enough to offset his disappointing performance on the GSV-R, will most likely be moving to the World Superbike championship for 2010.

Another race, another win, and another record broken by The Doctor.  Valentino Rossi has sealed his place in history as the world’s greatest rider through his victory today, surpassing Giacomo Agostini’s record of a career-long 159 podiums. Rossi’s easy ride across the finish line, and the fall from Jorge Lorenzo that precipitated it, has given the Italian a 50 point lead in the Championship, bringing his 9th title well into view.

The race was not without it’s own highlights and lowlights, so lets take a look at a few of the key moments and key results of today’s race in Brno.

Smashes

There were two big smashes during the race today; the first one came from Rossi as he smashed through Ago’s record of career podiums.  However, the big smash came on the penultimate lap as Mika Kallio smashed into the rear of Marco Melandri.  Both of the riders were having amazing races: Kallio riding superbly all weekend on his first factory Ducati ride, and Melandri proving his worth as he rose from 15th position on the grid all the way up into 9th with 2 laps to go. The riders had a few choice words for each other as they walked out of the gravel trap over whose fault it was, and it’s hard to say.  Melandri certainly was in front of Kallio, and was taking a clear line through the corner, but the line Melandri took was a bit more exotic, throwing Kallio for a loop and catching him by surprise.  Both riders seem to have emerged uninjured, but the damage to Kallio’s psyche might be a bit more extensive.  We wait for Indianapolis in two weeks to see if Kallio can complete a race on board the factory Ducati, and to see how he shapes up when the chequered flag is waved.

Crashes

But it was Jorge Lorenzo’s crash with 5 laps to go that was the highlight of the race itself.  Lorenzo kept right on Rossi’s tail through most of the race, fighting past Pedrosa after another one of The Janitor’s mediocre starts and right back to the rear wheel of Rossi.  And it was right when the battle was about to begin that it suddenly ended, with Lorenzo falling as he attempted to overtake the reigning world champion.

What did Lorenzo’s crash really mean?  It put the championship just that much farther out of his grasp.  What was a plausible challenge when he awoke this morning is now a longshot that will entirely depend on Rossi making a big mistake–something Rossi is naught to do.  The crash was hard and fast, putting the integrity of his engine at risk.  With the new rule limiting the number of engines that can be used now coming into effect, this could potentially be disastrous for The Janitor.

Passes

It would be amiss of me to completely pass over the other racers on the track today, many of whom are fighting for their future in MotoGP as we race in the midst of Silly Season.  Nicky Hayden’s brilliant performance that ended in 6th will certainly help him in his efforts to remain onboard the Ducati next year, while Chris Vermeulen’s finish in 11th isn’t going to help him get a ride at Tech 3 Yamaha next year.  Loris Capirossi rode brilliantly to finish in 5th, ahead of Hayden, Colin Edwards, and Andrea Dovisioso while working with a bike that’s clearly less powerful than his competitors.  Randy De Puniet finished in 10 while riding injured, a testament to his determination and sheer willpower alone.  But it’s Toni Elias who really shone today, finishing with his first podium of the season right after he’s been told he won’t have a ride at Gresini next year.  His remarkable string of performances has made him a gem of a rider to add to any roster—don’t forget he was leading the race out in Donington before the treacherous weather claimed him as the first of many casualties in England.

As we head Stateside to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in two weeks, it will be very important to see how these riders continue.  All eyes will be on the wildcards: the successes and disappointments of the satellite teams as they start to battle for their future.