by Tracy Hagen

Marc Marquez made history by becoming the first rookie to win five races in the premier class with his victory over teammate Dani Pedrosa and reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo at the Czech Grand Prix on Sunday, round 11 in the MotoGP championship.

The podium was a repeat of Indianapolis a week earlier, as was the overall story of the race. Lorenzo blasted his Yamaha to the front right from the start with two Repsol Hondas giving chase while the rest faded back. Soon the Hondas were molesting Lorenzo and charging hard into the corners. Eventually Marquez and later Pedrosa broke through, and Lorenzo’s Yamaha was out of breath with several laps left to go.

Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) had another race-long battle with Alvaro Bautista (Honda) and prevailed over the Spaniard to claim fourth. Stefan Bradl (Honda) rode a solitary race to sixth. The factory Ducatis raced each other, as they always do. Andrea Dovizioso beat Nicky Hayden this time, fair and square, with neither rider ever getting in the way of the other, per team orders.

There were five crashers in the race, most notably the two Monster Yamahas. Cal Crutchlow was able to re-join the race but scored no points, a bitter way to end the weekend after scoring pole position. Bradley Smith fell on the third lap after getting on the throttle too soon, too hard. Smith had qualified on the second row, ahead of Rossi on the factory Yamaha.

Marquez leads the championship with 213 points, followed by Pedrosa at 187 and Lorenzo at 169.

Once again, Lorenzo showed today that riding the wheels off the Yamaha is not enough to beat the Hondas, whether they are ridden around with both wheels sliding (Marquez) or not (Pedrosa).

Next race: Silverstone, September 1