Brno, Aug 18: World champion Valentino Rossi narrowly beat his main rival Sete Gibernau to win the Czech MotoGP Grand Prix. Italian Valentino Rossi edged Spaniard Sete Gibernau on the last lap of a thrilling Czech Grand Prix on Sunday (August 17) turning the tables after a bitter defeat in the previous race in Germany. The 24-year-old world champion overtook Gibernau on one of the last corners of the 3.36-mile (5 km) Masaryk Motor Ring to take the chequered flag and stretch his lead in the standings to 34 points after races without a win. Rossi, on a Honda, narrowly won the home straight sprint, finishing just 0.042 seconds ahead of the hard pressing Gibernau. Ducati riding Troy Bayliss came home third. Starting on pole position, Rossi fought a tough early battle with Australian Bayliss, who rode his powerful Ducati machine from the second row to claim the lead.


Bayliss kept Rossi at bay for the opening 11 laps, but the flying Italian eventually squared off his Australian rival with a breathtaking overtaking manouevre.


However Rossi gave up his lead on the 13th lap to fellow Honda rider Gibernau, slipping to fourth two laps later after he went too wide following a brave attempt to pass.


But he managed to reclaim the lead on the 16th lap, waging a wheel to wheel fight with Gibernau, setting a new lap record of one minute 59.769 seconds in the process.


Gibernau came back on the penultimate lap to take the lead. All the pressure was on Rossi to take the lead without being forced to run wide on the following corner -- as many other riders did during the day.


The Italian braked deep into a corner on the final lap and managed to keep his momentum into the next corner to squeeze out Gibernau's counter attack. Rossi held off the Spanish rider to the flag.


Once again Rossi's faithful fan club were ready to celebrate their hero's victory, and fitted him out with a prisoner's costume complete with ball and chain during the victory lap. As they failed to provide him with the key to unlock the chain he happily continued wearing the costume throughout the podium ceremony and news conferences.


Spaniard Daniel Pedrosa rode to a comfortable win in the accident-hit 125cc race and strengthened his lead in the overall standings. Starting from fourth position on the grid, the 17-year-old Pedrosa battled hard with Germany's Steve Jenkner from the start of the race but snatched the lead in the dramatic 10th lap.


Jenkner hit the sliding machine of last year's winner Lucio Cecchinello, putting both out of the race and giving Pedrosa the opportunity to snatch the lead on the 5.4-kilometre Masaryk Ring.


The Honda-riding Spaniard's position was further strengthened with his countryman Pablo Nieto and Switzerland's Thomas Luthi, then fourth, crashing spectacularly.


Pedrosa finished in 40 minutes 59.354 seconds, 3.981 seconds ahead of Aprilia's Italian Stefano Perugini, ranked second in the world championship standings.


San Marino's Alex De Angelis, on an Aprilia, finished third in 41:09.808 after making his way through the pack having given up the lead early in the race due to technical difficulties.


Pedrosa leads the overall standings on 162 points from Perugini on 137 and Italy's Andrea Dovizioso on 112.


Leading results in MotoGP. Race distance: 22 laps, 118.866 km 1. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Honda 44 minutes 18.907 seconds 2. Sete Gibernau (Spain) Honda 44:18.949 3. Troy Bayliss (Australia) Ducati 44:19.575 4. Carlos Checa (Spain) Yamaha 44:24.297 5. Max Biaggi (Italy) Honda 44:27.636 6. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Honda 44:29.950 7. Alex Barros (Brazil) Yamaha 44:30.346 8. Tohru Ukawa (Japan) Honda 44:32.481 9. Makoto Tamada (Japan) Honda 44:42.180 10. Marco Melandri (Italy) Yamaha 44:45.311 11. Olivier Jacque (France) Yamaha 44:45.592 12. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Aprilia 44:49.635 13. Noriyuki Haga (Japan) Aprilia 44:58.438 14. Shinya Nakano (Japan) Yamaha 45:00.147 15. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Japan) Honda 45:03.530


Leading world championship standings: 1. Rossi 212 points 2. Gibernau 178 3. Biaggi 141 4. Capirossi 97 5. Bayliss 96 6. Checa 78 7. Ukawa 74 8. Barros 71 9. Hayden 67 10. Nakano 65


Manufacturers: 1. Honda 245 2. Ducati 145 3. Yamaha 115 4. Aprilia 58 5. Proton 27 6. Suzuki 23 7. Kawasaki 16


250CC: Race distance: 20 laps, 108.06 km 1. Randy de Puniet (France) Aprilia 41 minutes 45.354 seconds 2. Toni Elias (Spain) Aprilia 41:45.881 3. Manuel Poggiali (San Marino) Aprilia 41:46 305 4. Roberto Rolfo (Italy) Honda 41:50.846 5. Sebastian Porto (Argentina) Honda 41:55.761 6. Fonsi Nieto (Spain) Aprilia 41:56.229 7. Franco Battaini (Italy) Aprilia 42:00.632 8. Sylvain Guintoli (France) Aprilia 42:00.919 9. Naoki Matsudo (Japan) Yamaha 42:18.106 10. Hector Faubel (Spain) Aprilia 42:21.521


Leading world championship standings: 1. Poggiali 145 2. Nieto 136 3. Rolfo 135 4. De Puniet 130 5. Elias 126


Manufacturers: 1. Aprilia 245 2. Honda 151 3. Yamaha 67


1245CC Race distance: 19 laps, 102.657 km 1. Daniel Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 40 minutes 59.354 seconds 2. Stefano Perugini (Italy) Aprilia 41:03.335 3. Alex De Angelis (San Marino) Aprilia 41:09.808 4. Mika Kallio (Finland) KTM 41:10.406 5. Hector Barbera (Spain) Aprilia 41:11.705 6. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda 41:12.322 7. Mirko Giansanti (Italy) Aprilia 41:20.463 8. Gino Borsoi (Italy) Aprilia 41:20.867 9. Youichi Ui (Japan) Aprilia 41:24.195 10. Gioele Pellino (Italy) Aprilia 41:34.296


Leading world championship standings: 1. Pedrosa 162 points 2. Perugini 137 3. Dovizioso 112 4. De Angelis 108 5. Lucio Cecchinello (Italy) Aprilia 105


Manufacturers: 1. Aprilia 222 2. Honda 186 3. KTM 32 4. Derbi 15 5. Malaguti 3


Bureau Report