Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo took an impressive seventh win of the season at round 10 of the Moto GP season at Brno, in the Czech Republic, at the weekend with a clinical performance that saw him lead from the first lap to the chequered flag.

In doing so, the Yamaha star becomes only the third premier-class rider in history to finish in the top two at the opening 10 races of the season.

In stark contrast to his Fiat Yamaha team-mate’s good fortunes, Italy’s Valentino Rossi ran into problems from the start and could only finish fifth.

Despite surrendering pole position for the first time in six races, some bold moves from the Spaniard around the first two turns saw him take the lead before the first split and he looked in imperious form on his Yamaha M1, with Saturday’s front-end troubles clearly a thing of the past.

Honda’s Dani Pedrosa kept close on his heels for the first few laps but every time his fellow countryman closed the gap a few tenths Lorenzo responded with renewed vigour and by the tenth lap he was a second clear. From then on he was unchallenged and he crossed the line 5.494 seconds clear of Pedrosa to take the 33rd win of his career and his 12th in MotoGP.

With the weather looking favourable following heavy rain this morning, Rossi was confident that he would be able to mount a strong challenge for honours this afternoon but it was not to be for the Italian today. He had felt strong all weekend despite sliding off on Saturday but he never had the same confidence in the race and was unable to ride as he would have liked.

He had dropped from fifth on the grid to eighth by the end of the first lap before rallying to pass Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden to move to fifth by lap six, but from then on he could make no further headway and rode a lonely race to the flag.

Another maximum-points haul for Lorenzo leaves the young Mallorcan 77 points clear of Pedrosa in the standings, with eight rounds remaining. Rossi holds on to fifth, 14 points behind Andrea Dovizioso.

“After my problems yesterday and the crash I didn’t expect this today, I thought it would be much more of a struggle,” said Lorenzo.

“Once I got to the front I expected Dani to come with me and I knew it was my moment and that I had to push as much as possible. I thought he would try to overtake me but I felt good, pushed hard and little by little I was able to lose him. I know I said I was riding for the championship now and that’s still true but when there’s the chance to win I have to take it! To take my seventh win in one season is fantastic, thank you to all of my team for such a good job after we had difficulties yesterday. Tomorrow we have an important test which we hope will help us in the last part of the championship and then we go to Indianapolis, a track that I love.”

2010 MotoGP Czech Republic – Brno 15/08/2010

1       Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP    43’22.638

2       Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP     0’05.494

3       Casey Stoner Ducati AUS      0’11.426

4       Ben Spies Yamaha USA 0’13.723

5       Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA   0’17.930

6       Nicky Hayden Ducati USA      0’26.815

7       Colin Edwards Yamaha USA   0’33.396

8       Marco Melandri Honda ITA     0’39.406

9       Hector Barbera Ducati ESP    0’39.639

10     Randy De Puniet Honda FRA  0’40.893

11     Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA   0’42.032

12     Aleix Espargaro Ducati ESP    0’47.091

13     Alex De Angelis Honda SMR   0’51.368

RIDER STANDINGS   15/08/2010

1.      Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP    235

2.      Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP     158

3.      Casey Stoner Ducati AUS      119

4.      Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA  115

5.      Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA   101

6.      Nicky Hayden Ducati USA      99

7.      Ben Spies Yamaha USA 90

8.      Randy De Puniet Honda FRA  75

9.      Marco Melandri Honda ITA     61

10.    Colin Edwards Yamaha USA   57

11.    Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA   54

12.    Hector Barbera Ducati ESP    48

13.    Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA      36

14.    Aleix Espargaro Ducati ESP    32

15.    Mika Kallio Ducati FIN   31

21.    Wataru Yoshikawa Yamaha JPN 1