Bradl blasts to top

A late lap from Stefan Bradl saw the LCR Honda MotoGP rider demote Jorge Lorenzo to second place in Friday afternoon practice ahead of the bwin Grand Prix České republiky. Behind the reigning MotoGP™ World Champion, the top three was completed by last year’s winner Dani Pedrosa. Lorenzo was fastest in both practice sessions as the Brno weekend began, but only until Bradl delivered his final 1’56.500 effort to snatch the top spot by three hundredths of a second. The German however said that keeping this pace over race distance could prove very tricky, and that him and the team need to work more on consistency. Pedrosa trailed Lorenzo by only a further six hundredths, following on from their dramatic last-lap battle at the circuit last year. Valentino Rossi was fourth on the second Yamaha Factory Racing machine, pushing championship leader Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) down to fifth ahead of Monster Yamaha Tech3 duo Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith. Completing the top ten were Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Ducati Team partners Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden, fresh from their final lap fight at Indianapolis. The Ignite Pramac Racing bike was ridden by Michele Pirro, covering for Ben Spies who suffered new injuries in a crash last Saturday, whereas Austria’s Martin Bauer made his debut as a wildcard with his privately-entered Remus Racing Team outfit, ending the day 23rd in the 25-rider field. Local Czech favourites Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing, riding with an injured shoulder) and Lukas Pesek (Came IodaRacing Project) finished proceedings in respective 22nd and 24th spots. The sole faller of the day was Gresini’s Bryan Staring, who lost control of his CRT bike during the morning session. The qualifying running order will be determined at the end of third practice, which will start at 9:55am local time (GMT +2) on Saturday.