BRNO, Czech Republic, 23 August 2004 — Spaniard Sete Gibernau cruised to his third win of the season in the Czech MotoGP Grand Prix yesterday, holding off a tough challenge from championship leader Valentino Rossi. Starting on pole, Honda rider Gibernau maintained the lead until the 17th lap, when Italian Rossi stormed in front at a left hand corner.
Although Gibernau snatched back the lead on the next turn, he had to produce a series of overtaking maneuvers before he finally powered away from the 25-year-old Rossi.
Catalan Gibernau crossed the finishing line in 44 minutes 03.480 seconds, avenging his final-lap loss to Rossi in last year’s Czech GP.
The defending champion had to settle for second place three and a half seconds behind, but retained his lead in the championship standings with 184
Rossi said he would now focus on the final six races in a bid to claim a fourth consecutive championship victory.
The Italian, who switched to Yamaha for 2004 after three seasons with Honda, has five wins in 10 races this year.
Another MotoGP title challenger, Italy’s Max Biaggi, finished third less than a second behind his arch rival Rossi after Brazilian Alex Barros crashed out of the leading group on the 15th lap.
The Honda-riding Roman, who loves the 5.4-km Masaryk circuit, stormed into the third place right after the start from the third row after a disappointing performance in the qualifying sessions. The quiet Biaggi slipped to third overall with 158 points. Biaggi’s teammate, Japan’s Makoto Tamada came home fourth at the dry track more than 16 seconds behind the winner.
Honda-riding Barros, who fought hard with Rossi and Biaggi before slipping into the gravel, set a new race lap record of one minute 59.302 seconds beating last year’s best time of 1:59.966 set by 2003 winner Rossi.
In the 250cc class, Argentina’s Sebastian Porto rode his Aprilia to a comfortable win after snatching the lead two laps from the finish overtaking France’s Randy de Puniet and championship-leading Spaniard Daniel Pedrosa.
Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo took the lead on the final lap of the 125cc race to win a wheel-to-wheel straight finish with the standings leader Andrea Dovizioso.
