 1 Brno Circuit, Czech Republic |
 2 Casey Stoner had his sixth pole of the season and was in dominating form. Rossi started second with Hopkins a surprise third. In this round, Michelin again failed its riders; the top Michelin rider qualified seventh. Dani Pedrosa, still injured, qualified in 12th position. |
 3 Stoner was out to prove a point after being comprehensively defeated at the previous round at Laguna Seca and he sped off in the lead. By the end of lap 1 Stoner was 1.1 seconds ahead of Rossi. |
 4 By the end of the first lap Pedrosa had worked his way up to sixth, but it was to get no better. The Michelin riders had a choice: tyres like Pedrosa's with lots of grip but no endurance, or tyres with no grip that would last the race. Dani faded very quickly to 15th and declared after the race that he had never been so embarrassed and was highly critical of Michelin. |
 5 Unlike previous races where Stoner would steadily increase his lead, by lap 2 Rossi had started to match Stoner's pace. On lap 5, Stoner kicked once more shattering the lap record for the second time. But, instead of collapsing, Rossi matched Stoner's pace losing just 4/100ths. By the end of lap 6 Rossi had reduced the gap to 1 second. Stoner tried to increase the pace again but fell off on turn 4, gifting the race to Rossi. At the time, the pair had created a 12 second gap back to third. |
 6 Rossi coasted home and won by the largest margin this season, close to 15 seconds. Valentino had set the scene for winning this race at Laguna Seca when he had outraced Casey. Casey was determined not to fall into the same trap again but still succumbed to Rossi's pressure. |
 7 Casey's DNF was the third pivotal moment of the season: the first being Lorenzo's crashes, the second being Pedrosa's crash in which he damaged his wrist, and now Stoner's first DNF crash as a Ducati rider. The fourth pivotal moment was Michelin's third failure in a row - Honda was furious and said so publicly; very unlike Honda. |
 8 Valentino now had a 50 point advantage over Casey and, although a mathematical chance existed, Stoner's 2008 challenge had all but ended. Meanwhile, Tony Elias had brought his Ducati from 13th on the grid to second. |
 9 Valentino now had a 50 point advantage over Casey and, although a mathematical chance existed, Stoner's 2008 challenge had all but ended. Meanwhile, Tony Elias had brought his Ducati from 13th on the grid to second. |
 10 Because of Michelin's failure, Tony Elias and Loris Capirossi took the other two podium positions. Valentino had taken his second win when Casey Stoner had clearly been the fastest rider on the track. Championship positions were now Rossi 237, Stoner 187 and Pedrosa 172 with six rounds left. |
 11 Kropotkin's Brno GP race review |
