BRNO, Czech Republic – Spain's Honda rider Dani Pedrosa won the Czech MotoGP here Sunday, beating world championship leader Jorge Lorenzo in a nerve-wracking final lap. Pedrosa, who finished the 22 laps on the 5.4-kilometer circuit in 42 minutes 51.570 seconds, has narrowed the gap on Lorenzo in the overall standings to only 13 points with six races to go this season. Britain's Cal Crutchlow on a Yamaha came in third for the first podium finish of his MotoGP career, ahead of Italian teammate Andrea Dovizioso. With last year's winner Casey Stoner absent with a fractured ankle, Lorenzo and Pedrosa showed their dominance as they took off and gradually widened the gap on the rest of the pack, leaving Crutchlow more than 12 seconds behind. Pedrosa took the lead from pole-sitter Lorenzo halfway through the race and held on until the last lap, when Lorenzo took it back. “It was a difficult last lap because I knew Jorge was very fast in the middle of the corner and I could hear the bike full on me,” said the 26-year-old Pedrosa. “I knew just a small opening will make him go in and in fact in that left-hander I just opened the door a little more than normal and boom — he was immediately in,” he added. But Pedrosa reacted immediately, fighting back to earn his third victory this season. Lorenzo has 245 points at the top of the overall standings, while Pedrosa is second on 232 – but the leader has things to ponder as the Brno winner has lifted the overall trophy in the five previous seasons. Stoner remained in third place overall with 186 points despite failing to take part after travelling home to Australia for surgery, admitting that his chances of defending last year's overall trophy were all but gone. Having decided to retire at the end of this season, Stoner will be replaced at the Repsol Honda team by Spanish youngster Marc Marquez, who won a thrilling Moto2 race in Brno Sunday, while Germany's Jonas Folger took the Moto3 honors. Marquez edged narrowly Switzerland's Suter rider Thomas Luthi, who led most of the race but was overtaken with three laps to go. — Agencies
