Brno MotoGP

It's the best moment of the year, and you are not going to argue with

me here. Laughing boy, here, chasing us home

through the dirt. He fansies himself as a racing driver. I was

trying to push you out of the way. You silly old fool. There he was

two days in the ditch. How many people did it take to get that out

of the ditch? Two days. Where did you get that from? I've gone, "I

wonder how easy it would be to get his passport." We look down and the

bag's wide open, and the first thing you see is his passport.

I think he's been more entertainment off the track.

wanted to point out my trousers. He's enjoying his racing and

everything. And that's what you need. It's hard to come by. What

about that ride from Cal. We thought he was down and out and a

repeat of last year's disappointment and then a comeback.

We didn't think anything from the start. I was texted and he said,

"I've broken my ankle, but donth tell anyone." The turning point of

the year was Casey Stoner. COMMENTATOR: Stoner is down!

When he said he was trying to run through that corner faster to nail

him, he crashed on the penultimate line but at least he was trying for

the win. I think you're right, that was the turning point. He's now

made it two out of three and he's a confidence rider and come judgment

day at the end of the season, that could prove to be the thing, he'll

put the pressure on Jorge Lorenzo. And he's finished top two in every

single race. The year he won the championship he finished top four

in every single race, and now he's finishing two. But the problem

jorge has is he's in the top two. Dani pet rose, never won it. And

Honda will throw everything at him. But I think he'll pick up the big

one. Yes, plenty of us guys to chew on

already this season. Here we are for round 12 and we've got another

major talking point on the plate. Remember a week ago, Casey Stoner

had a monster crash during practice. He suffered bone fractures and

ligament damage to his right ankle but he rode through the pain to

finish in fourth place. Since last week it has become painfully clear

to Casey that the situation is far worse than he first thought.

The guys in the local hospital in the US were fantastic. Everybody

gave us the best help they could but there was no specialist for

this kind of injury to give us any real information about it. So we

went to our specialists in Australia and they've given us the

result and it's definitely not good, so we have to get back and try and

get it operated on as soon as possible so we can at least get

some races in for the end of the season, otherwise we're in trouble.

So we've had the disc sent off Sunday and it's been tough waiting

around until now to make that decision. Really tough for Casey

and it seems the dream will not happen for him. A Third World title

would be an impossibility, you might think. No date set for his

return, but he said he would love to be back for his own Grand Prix

on Philip Island and that's on the 21st October.

He would love to finish career on a high because he retires at the end

of this season. No replacement announced for Casey,

not for the next races. But Jonathan Ray, the Northern Ireland

rider who is out in Russia at the moment, about now, we're expected

him to be announced later this evening as a test driver on Casey's

bike here in the Czech republic. And he may ride in three weeks'

time. With Casey out of the championship now, effectively it

backs two-horse race between Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo. 18

points between them and seven races to go.

Now, Cal Crutchlow in fifth place in the championship at the moment.

Massive news to tell you about him in a few minutes' time, but first

of all, for Dani Pedrosa, you have to say, across the garage there.

I'm not sure if we can pick him out. He's in the corner. It's a big

chance for him. 18 points behind the leader. He's been in strong

positions before but he's always been hit by injuries. Hopefully now

he can stay injury free until the end of the season, but losing his

teammate is a double-edged sword. He's always very strong on the bike

and then we had, like, an internal competition. We push each other

along to get better and better and get close to Jorge all the time. So

I'm just hoping he gets a good surgery and it's always, in this

case, the most important right now. Do you feel like you're in the best

form of your career right now? been always strong and win always

fast all my life, but many times too far away on the points

championship due to injury and so on. So just hoping to keep the same

and keep strong till the end. hope so, too, thank you. Thank you.

Yes, the championship definitely needs it, it promises to be a

battle between the top two for the end of the season.

Qualifying took place in dry conditions but we're not sure about

the race right now because it's cloudy behind me and we had heavy

rain this morning so there are real damp patches on the track this

morning. Unfortunately, Casey Stoner is not the only rider to be

missing from action today. Nicky Hayden didn't expect to be riding

here, he still has two broken bones in his hand he's recovering from,

and Hector Barbera fractured two bones in Indianapolis as well. So

he's still out. Those types of injuries would keep you and I out

of work for weeks and weeks and weeks, but not so these boys,

they'll get back on the bike as soon as they can. So what is it

that makes them so different from the rest of us.

COMMENTATOR: No, no, that can't happen.

Slide! Slide. Oh, he's down. first question they ask you when an

injury occurs is am I going to be able to drive. They don't even want

to know what's wrong with them. biggest problem is a lot have the

adrenaline rush when they fall and they don't always know if they've

hurt themselves as badly as they have, and that's something that has

to be checked out immediately. Sometimes, as in Nicky's case, I

was not confident to make him ride because I told him because of the

hand. Usually we never force them to ride or not to ride, but we

always help them to do what they want, and I can tell them 99% they

want to race. The worst case is if you've got a back injury or, like

concussion, like in Nicky's case. That's the worst case because Nicky,

maybe the day after would feel like riding, but he would be prevented

to do so from the doctors for the rider's safety. His own safety, but

also the other guys. You know, if you're playing tennis and you have

a problem with a wrist you're going to make things worse for yourself,

but you're not going to put anybody else at ribbing, but in this sport

you can't be a danger to the others. Do you find it difficult if a rider

is insisting he wants to ride, for instance Cal Crutchlow? He wanted

to race and we were quite confident to make him racing. The problem was

with the local medical staff maybe they're not so used to work with

these kind of people and so they were not so confident at the

beginning. But in the end they called the Watch Team and they

watched his treatment and the warm- up lap in the morning and he was

fine, so they agreed with us to allow him to race.

Most riders are normally permanently injured at some point

or there's something wrong with them. So you have to ride through

the pain barriers. But coming back from a cash the next day to be able

to ride fast t's more mental and the want to do it. To get out there

and not prove people wrong, but prove you can do it to whoever, to

yourself. Obviously we are brave people. If not, we weren't riders.

To ride a bike more than 250 horse power, you must be brave, no?

Sometimes with the adrenaline and the warm you feel on your leathers,

you can bring yourself to a high. And sometimes you can ride with

very bad conditions. Looking at the state of your ankle in the hospital.

Most people wouldn't have got out of bed for a week after that, what

is it about the mental state of a rider that makes you get back on

the bike so quickly? Stubbornness. Not wanting to lose. Any number of

things, but it's what we want to do. I've always been able to deal with

pain easily. It's not a problem. It's more damage if there's

something I can really truly damage for the rest of my life and it

would keep me off the bike, but if it's not physically hindering me

getting on that bike, nothing ever has. We all know the risks and this

is what we put ourselves in for, I suppose.

They're a special breed, all right. This is Cal Crutchlow's spare bike.

He's already on his way out to the grid. And we have big news about

Karl. This is his team manager. And we're going to be enjoying the

heroics of Cal Crutchlow for at least one more season and that's

great news and Bradley Smith is moving up? I'm not sure I

understood the whole question, but if it's to talk about next year's

line-up..How Did you guess? Yes, I guess. We are happy to have Cal

with us one or season but it's been tough because this season he had a

lot of interest in the paddock and I'm happy to give him the chance to

stay with us. I don't know if there was a link but straight after he

got his best-ever grid position yesterday. Let's hope he will

transfer that into a good race result. Bradley we knew, but I'm

happy to officialise that next year he will be with us, next to Cal.

And he had a great year in 20 12. And next year, 201 will be an all-

British line-up. And we hope for everyone to be supporting us and

helping us. I'm sure they will. This is one of the most successful

satellite teams in the paddock. These are still a prototype, in

this case, Yamaha, but times are changing and the start of this

season saw the arrival of another prototype. It was met with a lot of

cynicism in the Moto sport world but we're half way through the

season so it's a good time to find out how much improvement they've

made. CRT has come a long way this season.

They've done all of their development in front of the global

audience. They're going in the right direction. Last week, Randy

De Puniet qualified 1.6 seconds off the poll. So it is improving, but

race systems need more work. It's a two- chamber system. The hardest

part is flying half way around the world to maybe finish tenth. My DNA

is not programmed that way. So it would be nice to show up on a grid

and everybody has the same opportunity to win and we've got to

get back to that somehow. The only way we're going to get to them is

by spending millions, like they do, or let them spend less, less

development and close the gap that way. But I wouldn't like to make

the decisions. We can prove we can run out there with them, we just

need some more speed. The way to improve the CRT bike for next year,

everybody knows we're making ECU the same as everybody to help

develop them for everybody. And also possibly to give some tyres

for them. Different compound tyres and it's working very well. Future

rules will help close the gap. It's not going to happen overnight, but

look at the positives. 21 riders, new bikes on the grid and a chance

for new faces to prove themselves. COMMENTATOR: This guy here, nice

jock, Aleix Espargaro wins the challenge. This is the top class of

the World Championship. I think we are - I am on the best team of

MotoGP and our bike is working really, really good. CRT is great

and for me this race is really good. Well, standard electronics would

certainly help them close that gap of the factory proto type. The

Japanese have dominated this series in terms of the manufacturers'

championship, but here in Eastern Europe there has been a strong

tradition of Grand Prix engineering and that continues to this day.

This place looks like something out of the Sound satisfy of Music. But

I'm here to listen to something much more exciting, as far as I'm

concerned, motorbike exhausts. I'm at the factory in Slovenia, where

they supply the Yamaha team. It's made from titanium, so it will with

stand loads of heat. But it will set you back �7,000 or �8,000. So

I'm going to take a look round the factory to see how they're made.

Today, we're going to make one of these. Start with this, a wax mould

made in the factory here. That is sprayed with ceramic slurry and

it's an eight-day process to put all this around this. Once you've

made it, you put it in an oven and melt this out of there. And then

you have this area which is hollow tha is the mould. The next process

is to take the titanium. Heat it up to 1700 degrees. Feed that, via

another great big machine over there, into this mould and you end

up with that product. Once it cools down you chip away all the ceramic

and you end up with a perfectly- formed piece of Titov yanium.

That's the casting side, but then there is -- titanium. That's the

casting side but then there is another team devoted to the bending

of it. What is the point of all the shaping and forming? It's not just

to look cool. A properly designed exhaust system will extract more

from the engine. Air going in has to flow out. So here on this bike,

we'll check out exactly what the modifications have done.

Everything is closely monitored but it's not just about maximum power

it's about finding good, smooth throttle response. That's

imperative. I didn't crash it but I think I wrecked the rear brake.

That particular BMW system has had about 100 modifications over the

past two years and it's critical. The slightest modification, whether

it is the exit from the cylinder head or the length of the pipe can

make a difference to the Tork, the power and the revs. So remember how

important it is. It proved important in qualifying

yesterday afternoon and helped power Jorge Lorenzo to poll

position with a new record around this circuit, three-tenths of a

second faster than Rossi set in 2009. It's good to see that the

technicalities are not just traditional around here. I'm trying

to find Cal Crutchlow. This is the best group position by a British

driver since Toseland qualified in 2008. Cal, it's good to see you up

front again and it seems you're riding without the weight of the

world on your shoulders, as you seemed to have in previous races.

Yes, it's a different weekend to what I expected. We've managed to

get the contracts sorted and so it was nice to get the deal done on

Friday night. So I'm looking forward to this year and next year

now. Hopefully today I'll make the press conference and hopefully you

don't disturb it again, like yesterday when you fell off your

chair at the back and everybody turned to look at you! I think it

was only you that spotted that, but it wasn't me, for the record it was

a photographer who dropped his camera.

You said after qualifying yesterday that this track suits your style,

what is it about this track? don't know, I think it's because I

know it a couple more years than other tracks. I didn't have a good

result last year because I crashed out so I look to improve on that

and hopefully we can have a good race and a strong finish. We hope

so. Thanks. And hope to see you in the press conference later. Rascal!

That's obviously where one of our British riders on the grid, where

is the other one? Down here on the sixth row of the grid. I'm with

James Elson. We were talking earlier about the level of the CRT

bikes at the moment. There is still a bit of a gap between you and the

others? Yes, there is at the moment. We've got everything available to

us, but we haven't put in the new machine. Engine. It's our first

year, so we don't want to blow it but we haven't gone the whole hog,

but it is available to us. Hopefully we'll get something by

the end of the year but I'm doing the best I can and hopefully we'll

put on a God show and try and do our best, really. Good luck in this

race. Cool, than you. Let's move to the back of the grid with Pretoria

pret who has had probably one of the hardest times. But he has had a

try out on another bike. I tough weekend for you this weekend and

the warm-up went even worse. Yes, probably the last race with this

bike because we then switch to BMW. But also we finish with the engine

so this is the last race for this bike, but we try to finish with a

good race. Were you hoping for rain. It still might come? Maybe but...I

don't know. I think I prefer a dry race. OK. Good luck. Thank you.

We're up here on the third row with Karel Abraham, but this is your

home race and your best season so far, so it's a good weekend? Yes,

it's been good, but I'm stressed now because it's my home ground.

Hopefully everything will go well. We appreciate that. This is his

home race and home circuit, literally his dad owns this track.

And he's had injuries to his hand as well. Let's move forward a

little bit because just ahead of Karel Abraham, on the second row of

the grid and this is a great sight for Rossi fans. He won his first

race back in 1996. He's going to Yamaha next year, but he wants to

sign off with Ducat on a good race. He is in sixth place on the grid,

but if it rains, you never know what happens. We're about to get

off the grid and this track is a special place to watch motorcycle

racing. Yes, there are keys to this. Number one, it's very long and

number two, there are lots of elevations. And it's a real rider's

circuit. And the track goes on long and out into the forest.

There's about a 275 foot drop from turn one all the way down the hill

and the lowest point is between turn ten and eleven. It's very

special. A lot of second-gear corners but there are lots of

straights between the corners so it's all about acceleration. Watch

for that first turn too because it's a double apex thing and people

can run wide and cut back again. This is where we start to drop away

and this is a monster bend. That's right, at turn ten, the lowest part

of the circuit and then it climbs all the way back up. And up into

the final corner which is the first part of it, turn 15 is taken in

second and they flick it into third for the final turn and then over

the finish line. Yes, and you can stuff it up on the

inside on that very, very last turn and it will be one to watch. And it

will be interesting to watch PETs claw his way up the hills because

he's good on the acceleration. It is a nice level track. There is

one bump on it and Cal Crutchlow thought he'd found it when he fell

off in the pictures run but fortunately, he's oOK and the bike

is OK. .There they all are and ready for this is 22 laps. 3.36

miles around. That's a long, long lap. It's about the third longest

one we go to. Yes, and not real top high speed about 185 miles an hour.

high speed about 185 miles an hour. A big break into turn one.

Remember, the first time they test braking point is when the lights go

out, really, because you can't practice during it. Keep this

corner nice and tight and as you come out you flick it left and you

have to be careful you don't drop over the curb. He have had some

great racing around this circuit and I think we're in for a cracker

today. Personally I think it's got to be Lorenzo PETs, but that final

podium positioning could be anything. Yes, Lorenzo has the poll

position and Dani is third, but he was faster over the weekend but

threw his bike away in qualifying. Den Petrescu is the form guy, it's

just that his qualification doesn't reflect that. Then again, as we

know, front row, Pedrosa gets off the line like an antelope, then

you'd expect him to be first. There's a big population around

this area here and there was a lot of traffic coming to the circuit

today. It is packed. Pretoria was at the back of the

grid, but at the blunt end, Yonny Hernandez, bike number 68, he's

really in form. Yes, very much so and producing some good racing. CRT

stands for claiming rule bike and essentially it's meant to keep the

prices of the bikes down. It's really just a rule to stop anyone

building a multi-million pound motorbike and going out there and

beating all the others. There's Lorenzo 18 points clear,

it's not supercomfortable, but we'll see.

Lorenzo had to go back to his settings used in the test last year.

They struggled and struggled, but they got it sorted out by going

back to when they first ever tested out the thousands, and that was the

key to him going faster. That and the big horse power. Fantastic to

see these things. Rerevs are up and we're raeted ready for a start.

A belting start from Lorenzo. Pedrosa trying to line it up and

not close enough. He was absolutely off like a scalded cat.

There's the curb I'm talking about. Stay on the right side of that or

you'll get penalised. And Jorge Lorenzo has gone off like a scalded

cat. He's showing his intention. Rossi takes a lung. There's smoke!

Indeed. I don't know if that was Indeed. I don't know if that was

Valentino owes. Oh, for goodness sake, there's got

to be an engine me in the camp. can't believe he's got problems

after everything that's been going on. I don't know what went on with

number 11 there. The Yamaha dropped all the way back. You can't get

these guys a head start what so ever. That is extremely painful for

him. Great stuff from Crutchlow. Rossi doing a manful job as well

and Abraham started at ninth. He's shuffled back and he'll have to

hang on to that. Bautista having a good round. He was in sixth. Yes,

going good. I think you're right. I think the smoke from Rossi's bike

was that sometimes they fill them right to the top with oil and when

you get on the brakes early on is just slides up through and gets

into the combustion chamber. I think that's what the smoke was

otherwise it would have gone bang earlier on. What's happened to Bne

Spies, he's back in 14th. 22 laps, one down. Crutchlow still in a

podium position so far this early on. He's only dropped a spot. He's

in touch with the leaders, but Bne Spies has dropped ten spots and

that's horrendous. Yeah, you can't imagine what's going on in his mind.

Oh! Well, I don't know...they must have topped it up. I'd be worried

about that. It looks like it could be an engine about to go, unless

it's full to the brim. He's still running and it's producing the

power, which is unusual. I reckon it's maybe too much oil in it.

Look at that. It confused everyone at Indianapolis, when Bne Spies'

blew up. This is as good as we've seen Rossi

going in the early stages. He finished sixth last year and he

likes this circuit. He's going to Yamaha next year, but meanwhile

still riding for Ducati. Lorenzo leads this championship by

18 points over the man behind him. That engine that Valentino's

running, he used in Indianapolis and Laguna Seca. So he's used it a

lot. It's no spring chicken that engine, but neither is the great

Valentino. One of the older riders on the circuit, but still show how

it's done. The guys in the garage are going to

say, "Did you put some oil in the engine?" and everyone will say,

"Yeah, yeah, me too!" 200 miles an hour, as we watch this

long, long double apex. Great to watch.

If you get on the grass you get a penalty. We're ride being Dani

Pedrosa, second in the championship. 18 points behind this man and he's

half a second or quarter of a second behind him.

There's a hand- made exhaust system on that Lorenzo bike and it sounds

beautiful, but the Yamaha is more muffled. Yes, Rossi said he wanted

it quieter because he wanted to hear the other people coming. But

he didn't get his request with Ducati.

There is Randy De Puniet Espargaro right behind him and behind him

Hernandez. I don't know where Karel Abraham ab is, and poor Bne Spies

has it all to do. You could for give him for giving up on it.

He's going to use up all his tyres' energy and his heart trying to get

through this. Bne Spies is sitting tenth in the championship. 66

points only he has had a terrible, terrible season so far. I told him

to go to the Isle of Man and talk to the fairies there, to give him

some luck. We'll check his lap time. Pedrosa

very comfortably in touch with Lorenzo who has just put in a

fastest lap. And I can tell you now that Lorenzo

has just broken the lap record. He's just put in a 156.620. That

nailed that nicely. He was the record holder from 2009, but he has

just broken that. Pedrosa is pressing at the moment.

So no wonder he's getting his head down and responding.

lapped slower last time, but Cal could do well to stay with these

Crutchlow in fifth. That non-finish last weekend in Indianapolis didn't

help that. Yes, Dovizioso on a bit of a roll two as he's had four race

podiums in the last five. So he's got some momentum. Cal Crutchlow

was bested by his teammate in all of the practice sections, only just

across the weekend, but when push came to shove, Cal dug deep and

smoked it. Yep, he really did. Every single bike on the track at

the moment is running the same tyres and they've gone for the

softer of the two option at the rear on the slick. And the harder

at the front. Not often we see that. Everyone's gone for exactly the

same Bridgestone tyre. The air chipping away at it as long as the

boots are fresh enough. The lap record is held by Pedrosa. Look at

the focus in Jorge Lorenzo's eyes. Look how far ahead he's looking and

staring. I wish they all used clear visors so we could see more.

romantic take from Steve. The full fuel tanks was an issue

they had to get their heads around for a time because they kept losing

time. That's right, losing time with the full fuel tanks.

The CRT bikes, the claiming rule T bikes, more production engineed

bikes can run 24 litres. Yes, and 24 kilograms of fuel makes

a huge difference to the total weight and braking power of the

bike. Yes, everything is affected. Sometimes you'll see a rider gets

better as the fuel weight goes down and you can set your motorcycle up

for that as well. So all the time the riders, during the practice

sessions and the test sessions look at what gives them the best low

average lap times throughout. And you want something that's

consistent. Two-tenths behind Lorenzo is Pedrosa. If he can get

close enough, what's the strategy, because Dani sometimes fades off

into the distance and slows. Yes, the strategy will to work out how

much grip you've got left. That Ducati is still breathing

heavily. Well, he can't continue like that or there won't be any oil

there, but the young German seeing him off. He's having a shocker,

Bautista, on a great bike. And we've been told he doesn't have

that ride for next year. Good news this weekend, the Zeus UKy, some of

the bosses have been around talking to the officials, so that could be

good news if they're back with us next year. Some of the top brass

have been here this weekend. the CRT regulations is the bait to

bring people like that back again. Absolutely, it is.

This is the drag up the hill that we were talking about and you watch,

admittedlys' in a bit of a tow but look how Pedrosa stays in touch

with Lorenzo up the hill. That's a third gear exit out of

that one and De Puniet getting tied in a knot. Spies fighting his way

through. Charging up through the field so that will put Bne Spies up

into eighth position. Yeah, he started fourth and for 4,000th of a

second he might have been on the front row. So he's had to pull his

way back up the field. And he is lapping quite a bit quicker than

all the guys in front of him, up to Valentino Rossi.

Down the hill we go. Well, we've just had word from the pit lane

that the two Ducati technicians think it is just oil. As we were

saying, a slight overfill in the engine. It needs to have 16 laps

left in it. They would say that, wouldn't they. They had no

alternative. But Rossi is being closed down by bike number 6 now.

These guys are knocking around in 57.8 for Rossi. 56.4 for the boys

at the sharp end. Yes, I think it's just a matter of

time before the number six, the German rider, Hector Barbera moves

He's the rookie this year. Bradle on a Honda. Who has just ridden

over the point where he had a massive crash. He must still

He's still got a second margin. Going back to Bautista and the fact

that he probably has not got his ride with grass yeeny next year. --

Gresini next year, they've been chatting with Scott Redding.

The way the rules are being tilted, it's all going over CRT's way and

MotoGP is basically going to be slowed back again. About 1.5, 1.6gs

braking down into the corners. Jarvis there, the manager of the

Yamaha team there. Plenty to think about as he watches and wonders

whether Pedrosa is just stalking or sitting comfortably and about to

mug his driver with a few laps left? At the moment, the gap is

pretty constant and there's still 15 laps to go. Lorenzo at the

moment not being able to leave that for a moment. Really concentrating.

There's the gap. It's only two- tenths there as well. Lorenzo

better luck that time. Almost two- tenths, nothing in it. And here is

Bradle, number six to see if there is space to pass Rossi. You'll have

to try a bit harder, mate, he's been about a bit, Rossi will not

make it easy for you. The Ducati seems to have plenty of horse power.

And he's having a squeeze down this time. Wow, he ace nailed it. Rossi

might try going back for the switch back. Yeah, I'm sure he will. Yes.

I'll just plant my Ducati there. "this is how you do it, sony, you

try it and I just come straight back. I'll let you pass for a

minute, Harry you and see where it takes us."

Yeah, Rossi was doing his very best to block him as they went through

the switch back. That's the best time to pass someone back is when

you've just been passed. There is dad. That's a little smile on his

face. Never thought he'd see his son passing Rossi.

Oh, no...it has to...frustration, all too hard. Get on, press on,

whatever. There are no words for this and there is no way you could

possibly Molly fi Bne Spies. I don't know what happened at the

start or if it's connected to the crash. I think he just wants to see

the back of this team. He needs to go fishing now. There are a couple

of weeks off now but I don't know how he manages to drag himself to

the bike these days. There must be a sense of foreboding. And the

garage is very efficient and the team is, the problems are the

suspension and the linkage break braking and they had a suspension

go. And we don't know what happened on the first lap.

We're on board with Ben Spies right now.

And it was just, yes, I think he went in a bit wide and a bit hard

on the brakes. It was a home-made mistake, I'm afraid. Yes, it was.

Trying to claw back time. His last lap around was still quite a useful

one. It was still right on the pace of the frontrunners, but of course

he had dropped ten places. We'll find out later on what caused that.

Maybe it was just one of those rider reactions because he missed a

gear. Who knows, we'll find out as soon as we can. In the meantime,

guys have been doing up in the control room. Because it was right

behind Rossi there, and a big puff of smoke came out he shuffled and

changed direction because it looked like he thought it might be oil and

in doing so, he lost momentum. And you can't give anybody a hair's

breadth here. There is it number 26 right behind him in the slipstream

all the way through. This is really about tyre

management and energy management because again it might like like

these guys are just sat on the back of the bike, but they're working

like crazy. I'm dealing with the existment management because I can

tell you that Cal Crutchlow is opening up the gap. Excellent.

is a break down, bad luck for him. Yonny Hernandez' teammate falling

off. That's bad luck. But they're pretty reliable these bikes, that

is uncommon. Last time around he is 1.6 seconds behind Dovizioso, so

Cal Crutchlow is inching for a podium.

Right up on the curb. It's all right to use them when they're dry.

If we have showers or rain, the painted curbs get very, very

slippery. No Casey Stoner here this weekend,

he is the curb master. We're on board the Honda with

Pedrosa. 1,000 cc. This is the tyres.

If we listen he grabs third gear and you can here the revs. And the

bike is much bigger resistance-wise when upright than when lent over. A

lovely sound. And you saw the bike almost on its side. Rossi has had

to concede a place to Bautista as well. That's tough luck. Maybe that

engine is really gapsing. This is the passing place. Straight down

the inside, easy as that. Yes, and this is what Valentino has been

saying all along is what he doesn't have with the Ducati is he has no

feeling from the front and he doesn't have any trust in it,

because it doesn't give him feedback. And it's all about trust.

This weekend all the crashes, not big ones, but they've all been

front-end faults. And we are talking close to 60 degrees when

they slope and when it gets to that angle, seriously, the suspension

doesn't work as well and it's so easy to tap a little tiny bump and

when the bike is lent over anything more than 55 degrees, the bike just

goes out from under you and it requires a good jab of the knee to

keep upright. Pedrosa down the inside! That's the turn I was

talking about. Now we're tipping in. I figured for a little bit he could

do this, so now he's going to have a little bit of an experiment with

ten laps to go to see if he can gap Lorenzo or whether Lorenzo can sit

with him as well. These two are going to go hard at it right to the

end. We didn't know whether Jorge Lorenzo was setting a pace from the

word go and whether Pedrosa was sandbaging it a bit. If you look

closely you get an indication, if we get a shot, the rear tail bike

on that Honda, this is the pass, straight down the inside. He put

his bike in a position where Lorenzo couldn't do anything about

it. It was smooth and comfortable. Keep a close eye on that exhaust

pipe sticking out beneath the seat going into the corners. It is

rattling around a bit and chattering a tiny little bit. If

Dani Pedrosa beats Jorge Lorenzo the grab on the table will drop to

13 points. This is just a tough call. You

don't want to go too fast and risk falling off, you have to be careful

now. Loads more races yet. September 15th we're off to Italy

then Japan, and Malaysia and Australia. Seven left. 175 points

left on the table. So, really, neither of these riders

can afford a big mistake. They've got to be careful. Dani is close

enough, but for want of a big roll of the dice. Two-tenths is the grab.

That's standard. In the background we just saw Cal Crutchlow, and the

gap is 1.6. He's levering this out. That's 1.6 seconds over Andrea

Dovizioso. That's a good last lap for Cal Crutchlow. 56.92. So Cal

Crutchlow, as we ride with him now, doing everything he can, putting in

lap after lap as consistent as he can. And he'll be talking to

himself, "Nail it on the exit there. Keep the front wheel up. Don't spin

it 250 much" trying to focus and concentrate.

He'll look at the lap time on the board and he'll want to see a 56

and 56. And if he can keep nailing those. And these guys are so

accurate and neat and perfect, unless there's a mix it will

fluctuate by a tenth and no more. These guys are that neat.

56 is the magic number. And it is extraordinary, you can tell because

you sort of know what the time will be because you know where you had a

good exit or going into a corner and I used to judge it by the revs.

I used to cheer myself up by kicking into a lower gear.

Back up the hill we go and Lorenzo is staying in touch there, but he

doesn't have quite the same connection in the drag up the hill

as Pedrosa with the powerful Honda and great aerodynamics and weight

balance. He's the light guy of the field and the small guy of the

field and I've got a hunch this is going to look like half a second.

How about that? It is, 0.453. And the last lap of Dani Pedrosa was

news about Ben Spies. This time around, the engine was good, no

problem there. The suspension was good, no problem there, no linkage,

the clutch was slipping. Is there anything else? No, there isn't.

That's not loose. It's like an MoT failure that bike and it's just

rotten luck. Everything has gone into the preparation. It's just the

most extraordinary run of luck. Don't by any Lottery tickets if

you're Ben Spies. Yes, he needs to each other up a little bit. Dani

Pedrosa was hot on the brakes there. And that pushed Lorenzo too deep

there. Not too much in it. Let's see if he can get back on terms.

Lorenzo will have choked a little bit when he saw the gap last time

round but he's closer. He's responded, it would appear. These

tyres with eight laps to go were the softer option and they'll be

deteriorating. It depends at what level and that depends on riding

style. With thee two rides, you'd have to say out of all the people

over the years, Casey Stoner not being here, but these two are

probably two of the smoothest riders of all.

Crutch cch crutch will not be pleased with his last lap, but --

Cal Crutchlow will not be pleased with his last lap but he has just

increased the gap over Dovizioso. A terrific ride from puntpuntpunt

in eighth position in -- Randy De Puniet in front of Karel Abraham.

That's a great run from De Puniet, very solid from him. Karel Abraham

started ninth. He's now back in ninth and a top-ten finish would be

great for the man on his home circuit. And there is the move by

Tony Elias. Just getting past Espargaro there. Oh, a big, big

mistake there! That's exactly where he overcooked it last time but that

was worse this time. Is that a tyre issue? Running too deep into the

corner? I don't know. This will be absolutely fantastic pictures for

Jorge Lorenzo. He will be loving this, seeing that number 26 there,

Dani Pedrosa has some problems there. Because I honestly thought

Danny was going to clear off. think Danny did to and it looked

good for a lap there, but two laps out of two he's had trouble

gathering the bike in on that downhill run on that right-hander

and now he's under maximum pressure. That is a tenth of a second across

the line. Nothing in that. Cal Crutchlow seven seconds back.

Andrea Dovizioso has taken a tenth out of him. Now, 99, he's starting

to probe. He's not just having a look any more, he's had enough.

Jorge Lorenzo can sense his mate is under pressure here and he's going

to work him out. Around the outside, he can't get there, but he can make

Pedrosa feel the pressure. And if anyone can play mind games in these

races it's Lorenzo. I agree with you. I'll be trying to just talk to

himself, "Be smooth, be consistent. Get the power down nicely and brake

at exactly the right place" we've seen him making a few mistakes

running into the corners. I think he's letting the front run out

beneath him and he's missing the apexes. Look at this shot. Look at

the way the bike - the suspension is fully extended there. As soon as

he changes direction it compresses at that point and he moves his body

over trying to drag the bike over, the bike doesn't want to move at

all. They just want to go straight so the riders have to throw

themselves even more. There goes the suspension. Watch that gap

between the mud guard and the faring there compress as it loads

up the suspension and the tyres and knee firmly on the ground. It does

seem to defy physics, an angle like that. It's extraordinary to watch.

Lorenzo is doing everything he can to reel in Pedrosa. Pedrosa didn't

make that slip on the brakes that lap around and has pulled back two-

tenths. It's that close. It's the blink of an eye.

This is Cal Crutchlow, could this be the podium he's been looking

for? We've been looking for, everyone this year? It's looking

comfortable. This is where Lorenzo is strong, pressuring, sniffing,

poking, prodding, making it as uncomfortable as possible and

opening up a little wound in the thinking of Pedrosa and sticking a

spike in it. He's making this hard, but Pedrosa having to concentrate

and work flat out. Lorenzo can pick the line he wants. Yes, and all the

time the tyres deteriorating. Look at that!

Yeah, he's saying, "This is Higham that, just giving you a prod."

Trying to cut round the outside but that won't work. There's a sequence

of relatively tight corners here and then it opens up and there's a

chance. Five laps remaining on this circuit. 3.365 miles each lap.

Oh, look at that. That was the corner that's really the devil

Pedrosa, this time around and Lorenzo gets sucked in a tiny bit.

Up the hill they G yeah, that corner we keep seeing the mistakes

at, that's the chatter corner, the long downhill where everyone seems

to suffer. But Pedrosa seemed to recover

quickly, considering how wide he went.

It's plus 0.349. Yes, ever such a little bit of breathing space in it.

If he can do that for two more laps, it will be seconds, which will feel

like light years compared to the pressure he's under now.

Four laps remaining and three- tenths the gap.

There's nothing in it. All of those bikes are remarkably evenly matched

all the way through the field, including Valentino's. And Rossi

has just got a problem with that Ducati. Yes, that seems to be the

problem all year. They're on their fourth or third chassis this year.

Look at this, he's right with him. He'll run wide at this point trying

to cut back on the inside. It's all about pressure, even if there's not

a spot to pounce because this is the part of the circuit where if it

unwinds, it unwinds. Four laps and lots and lots of corners still to

go, 16 of them and any which one -- Lorenzo has another look! He moves

out of the slipstream to have a look. He's trying to hassle Pedrosa

all the time. This is the Nadir of the circuit here. Now we start to

climb back up again. Look at that tyre. Yeah, the rear Bridgestone

tyre, that contact patch gets wider and wider. The back of the bike is

where the grip is. And Pedrosa looks to have pulled out another

couple of bike lengths here. Two- tenths is the gap. This could go

either way. It's wide open. another big mistake! He's round

almost thinking about having a run round the outside. This will be

encouragement for bike 99. He'll know that he's absolutely pushing

Dani Pedrosa almost beyond his limits. I think, yeah, you can see

the chatter going into the corner and Dani Pedrosa has to brake late

to sort of stop the bike. Slow it down more than he'd want to. And

this will give Lorenzo the chance to run up the inside of him if he

can keep the pressure on him. I think Pedrosa is encountering

chatter into the corners. It looks to be running on rails, that Yamaha.

Lorenzo will be acutely aware of this. Both men flying the flags for

their respective teams with Stoner out from Honda and Spies out from

this race with Yamaha. This is the tricky corner for Dani Pedrosa.

Chatter once again, you can see it, mate. Yes. And Whoah! Jorge Lorenzo

is the 2010 World Champion and he wants to make it two of those.

Pedrosa has the Sterling Moss where he could finish up being the

greatest rider never to win a World Series. He's been so close, but

robbed by injury. You can see again, Lorenzo can carry the corner speed

and Danny seems to get out of it a bit better, that power-weight

situation. We ride with Cal Crutchlow. Still looking very good.

Cal Crutchlow has a lovely lead over Dovizioso now about three

seconds. That's a bouty. It's a lonely race for Cal Crutchlow and

that's the sort of solitude anyone can become used to. Staring down

the barrel of his first podium, not under threat. Lovely, it would be

great to have a British podium. It's been a long while. It has, it

goes back to Jeremy Williams in 2000.

That's the last British podium. A useful graphic on the right-hand

side there, it shows you in gap times what the lap times really

equate to. So Rossi is 29 seconds back. And that's about a quarter of

the circuit. Lorenzo has the corner speed but every time he wants to

run through the corner there's a Honda there. So Pedrosa has to

brake as late as he can and get a good run out of it. So there is a

cordon effect. -- an accordon effect.

So, has he got a plan up his sleeve? Can Lorenzo mug him? Can he

take the chance? Or can it just be damage control.

There is no advice from the pit wall now. It's Danny alone. We're

about to cross the stripe for the last time and then these guys will

have their last fistful of corners. Getting instructions from the pit

wall, from the team. But he's saying, "I'm riding as fast as I

can. What else am I supposed to do?." Up the hill, Lorenzo, and

whether he can mug him out, who knows. Oh, and he's clinging like a

limpet to a rock, Dani Pedrosa. He does not want to let that go. He

doesn't care about the chattering at the end of the bike. He just

wants to beat this up and carry it round. I wouldn't want to call this

one. Danny is so on the limit and could easily make a mistake.

Lorenzo can he dive up on the inside? If he does it will be at

the bottom of the hill Oh, he's done it. Can Pedrosa respond? Not

close enough. The downhill underbrakes and now he's carrying

speed. That was a short straight that doesn't work. Get rid of this

double right-hander and see what they can do. It's Pedrosa who has

the pace. But Pedrosa I think it will be the last corner. Pedrosa

goes wide but he's tucked it back. He can now get all the power as he

stands the bike up. Turn 11 and 12. Nothing will happen there, but 13

and 14 is where it could happen and Pedrosa out of here will get the

run. He's got the power and the speed up the hill now. It's the

drag up the hill. This is Pedrosa's best bit side-by-side. Can he get

it...oh! Lorenzo slams the door. Lorenzo's got behind. Pedrosa's

going to do it. Dani Pedrosa hangs on to win in the Czech Republic.

Outstanding. That's what we want to see and Cal Crutchlow going for his

first podium in MotoGP and he's got Hallelujah for that!

Cal Crutchlow, well beaten his teammate. Sedatives all round for

us. Bradle fifth. Bautista across the line sixth and Rossi just kept

on keeping on there, seventh place. 35 seconds off the winners. That's

not much. And we have a championship. 13

points in it now. Here comes the first of the CRTs. A good ride for

Randy De Puniet. Buddy, we've got to get a re-play of that. That is a

very good ride for him. Well done. And still in touch. And Karel

Abraham gets a top-ten finish. Ninth Aleix Espargaro.

Yeah, we're going to get a re-play of that but the pursuit of the

finish is the guy in second place coming up the hill, that was his

strongest part so it was always going to come to the wire. We're

looking at Dani Pedrosa celebrating. As he comes out of here, this

section, climbing up the hill, he's got the inside line and he's passed

him. But look at Jorge Lorenzo lets the brakes off but he runs too deep

and the track is dirty. He now can't get on the power and Pedrosa

carries the speed through there. A very smart move from Pedrosa

because he put Lorenzo in a position where he had to make a

mistake. We talked about this and I mentioned it at the top...Look

the team! That's fantastic. It was a tight

race. But that was the corner we were talking about. You can stuff

it down the inside, as I've said and Jorge trying to defend. He did

everything he could, but he was on the dirty part of the track and he

made the final corner too sharp. A magnificent effort by both of them.

But a fantastic race. Yes. The last British man won in

2001. You must be delighted for Cal it must be a good prospect? Yes,

I'm so happy he finally made the podium. Everyone was expecting it,

and I'm sure in the UK too. But it is a fantastic result. It happened

at the right time. I don't know if there was a link, but this is his

very best weekend when he's signed for the future and I hope we have

some more, especially for the British fans. Yeah, I'm delighted.

Spare a thought for James Toseland who didn't quite get there. And Cal

has persevereed and been in the hunt fourth and fourth and finally

does it. These two worked their socks off. And worked their socks

off. That was a cracking race. It couldn't have been closer and they

both pushed each other to the limit. Yeah, the only way it could have

been better would have been to have Casey Stoner in the mix. So spare a

thought for him. And Pedrosa has closed the gap down. 13 points in

it and we still have 150 points to go in this championship.

Oh..he's run out of gas. That's running it close to the wire! A

great ride though. I can't believe that. Crutchlow is

going to be on the podium and he can't get there! Oh, he's getting a

push. It's not very easy doing that with

a MotoGP bike. It's all right, "My dad owns the

circuit, isle' send a car for you !" That was astonishing. Those two

they stalked each other. Maybe the fuel was tight. That is a

close-run thing. Both the Yamahas are right out of fuel. Well t's a

big circuit and lots of straights. Karel Abraham, that's a sporting

gesture. He knows this man has to get to the podium.

And very nice of Karel Abraham to give him a hand.

That is De Puniet pun, in our excitement about Cal Crutchlow we

didn't do him justice, but he had a great ride. And the gaps are

closing. Yes, they are and they're getting better and better all the

time. Randy De Puniet is getting married

this winter. Will that slow him up? It tends to!

In you come, Cal. Let's get that baby going. Just had fuel for one

more rev. It was just the hill spoiling it. That was so good after

the machinations and the negotiations...He's Close to tears,

and so he should be. It's been a tumultuous weekend for Cal. Can you

imagine if he'd run out of fuel. don't.

So Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Crutchlow, that's the podium. Yes, you heard

it right. Cal Crutchlow, you can be well

pleased with yourself. He was almost that happy when he signed

the contract. And now he really is. And that's a belting bike for him

to be riding. It's a wonderful thing. I'm quietly relieved he's

not on a Ducati because they can be contrary wreckers. Cal Crutchlow,

what can you say, absolutely a fantastic job. Cal, we're all

beaming, but I'm sure the biggest smile is yours. The first British

podium in 12 years. Finally, it's come. Congratulations. Yeah,

there's a great way to look at it. We've had a great weekend all

weekend and proved a lot of people wrong. Finally we got there. We

rode a perfect race as such, and I just controlled the gap to

Dovizioso and went when I needed to go. I was pleased. I think we rode

a perfect race and the race was fast. My fastest lap last year was

58.3 and my fastest was 56.6, something like that. So we've made

massive improvements and made no mistakes, which is what we needed.

I'm sure it feels like a win. Were there tears under that helmet?

because I thought I was going to run out of fuel. We knew the

situation was tight and especially riding on your own, you're in your

own air so the bike uses more fuel. So I was a little bit concerned

about that, but I used my head. But definitely elated, and thanks to

everyone at home. They've all supported me. There's been a lot of

pressure to do it, and we've done it and hopefully we can continue

this run from now on. And you are dad's been taking pictures. Well

done. Yes, thanks very much, everyone. Well done. He didn't have

anything to prove. Everyone knew he could do. And how is Dick feeling

with about this? Check out the look on his face. He's delighted. He was

leaning over taking pictures of Cal. Congratulations. I know you've put

so much hard work and effort into this over the years and to finally

see a Grand Prix podium, how does it feel? It feels like nothing else

before. We've been doing it from when he was 13. But that phases

into insignificance, even the World Championships, this is incredible.

Has he been riding with a weight over his shoulders in the past few

races? This next contract seems to have liberated him? Yes, that's

part of it. Last year started well and continued well. And I wouldn't

say he was riding reservedly, but he didn't want what happened in the

previous year with a lot of crashes and so forth. But this is really

good. And you're not going to shave-off your moustache, are you?

No, we have we're all going to grow one!

And we're with Pedrosa? Yes, the last few laps were fantastic. Me

and Dan y we tried everything. We had to prepare for the last laps,

when he was pushing aa lot. I was taking so many risks to stay with

him. But finally I must try. The victory was so close I had to try

and I tried this time and this time Danny was more clever and more

brave, so congratulations for him. And next time it may be very, very

different. Great for us to watch. It certainly was. That was Jorge

Lorenzo, not Dani Pedrosa, sorry. But that sets us up nicely for the

rest of the championships. Six races remaining and 13 points in it.

The next race is in three weeks' time in San Marino. Now we do have

the race winner. Dani Pedrosa. Danny, many congratulations, maybe

one of your best rides in MotoGP? today. Because Jorge had his strong

points on the track and I had mine. Basically he was very strong in the

middle of the corner and I was more strong on the braking. But at the

end of the lap we were pretty much the same. So it was the strategy

all the time, he was trying to keep his strong points up and I mine.

And I knew at the end just a small mistake from me he would take over.

So I tried to mine mice my mistakes and stay on the line because I knew

he was so strong. So, yeah, in the last lap I opened up a little bit

more than normal and he was immediately inside, very close to

me. I see his helmet just here in my face. So I was kind of upset in

the moment because the chequered flag was two kilometres away. And,

yeah, towards the end I try my best on the braking and I could stay in

front and he pushed also from outside but I could stay on the

line and win this race. So I'm very happy and many congratulations to

the team and I dedicate this victory to my dad, because it's his

birthday. Oh, happy birthday, Mr Pedrosa. Here is what it means and

it is massive news. Confirming that result, Dani

Pedrosa winning takes him 1 points only - remember, 25 points for a

race win - 13 points behind Jorge Lorenzo. Crutchlow closes down his

teammate a little bit, still in fifth. Bradle did himself a few

favours, moving up. Ben Spies, what do you say? I

couldn't even cheer him up with a free beer. It's the worst day.

Aleix Espargaro is still in front of his teammate, in spite of that

win by Randy De Puniet. But there are the remains of those

bikes. They gave their all, of that there is no doubt. And those two

boys must be absolutely exhausted, Matt. I know Cal is over the moon.

He's had a good weekend, but the two at the end from wheel-to-wheel

all the way. Yes, it's fair to say we've waited

a long time for that battle to materialise, probably ever since

Dani Pedrosa stepped up to MotoGP in 2008. And a giant step. Six

races to go and 13 points in it. Three wins from the last four races

as well for Dani Pedrosa. He is now Honda's number one concern for the

championship with Casey Stoner out. But we don't care about all that,