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Special feature

Brno MotoGP: Motorsport.com's rider ratings

Another MotoGP race held in mixed conditions threw up another unusual result, as Cal Crutchlow took advantage of the chaos to take a first win. But who else shone at Brno? Jamie Klein rates the field.

Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing, Cal Crutchlow, Team LCR Honda

Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing, Cal Crutchlow, Team LCR Honda

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Jorge Lorenzo - 6

Anyone glancing at Lorenzo's finishing position along with a report of conditions on Sunday would be tempted to write Brno off as another wet-weather disaster for the Spaniard, but this wasn't like the Sachsenring. This time, Lorenzo was genuinely unlucky his front Michelin gave out - at a time where he was making up enough ground to bank at least a solid top five. And in the dry, his pace was stunning, even if Marquez found even more in Q2.

Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Yamaha MotoGP

Valentino Rossi - 8

A slightly disappointing qualifying showing by Rossi was more than made up for in the race, where the Italian gradually picked his way through the field after a "nightmare" first few laps on the hard rear tyre. While his choice of the soft front gave him no chance of staving off Crutchlow's victory charge, coming home second - his first appearance on the podium since his Barcelona win - ensured he made the most of the situation, moving ahead of Lorenzo in the points in the process.

Podium: second place Valentino Rossi, Repsol Honda Team
Podium: second place Valentino Rossi, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography

Marc Marquez - 8

After a pole effort that can only be described as staggering, Marquez led the opening lap before slumping to fifth behind a quartet of Ducatis come race day, but never dropped lower than that as he strove to look after his tyres - having made the 'wrong' choice of soft front and rear. Had no answer to Crutchlow and Rossi's late surge, but picked off the struggling Ducatis late on to book the final spot on the podium and somehow extend his points advantage yet again.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography

Dani Pedrosa - 3

Even Pedrosa himself is aware that his constant tales of woe are becoming 'repetitive', having struggled for competitiveness since finishing third at Barcelona. At Brno, the Spaniard complained of near-constant locking of his front tyre in the wet conditions, causing him to fall from his grid slot of ninth to 15th by the mid-point of the race. Recovered to 12th at the finish, but a rider of Pedrosa's stature simply has no excuses for being so far down the order.

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography

Andrea Dovizioso - 6

Besides Lorenzo, Dovizioso was the highest-profile victim of the soft front Michelin's tendency to disintegrate at Brno. The Italian veteran was a step behind factory Ducati stablemate Iannone for the entire weekend, suffering from a vibration in qualifying, but was holding a strong third behind Iannone and Scott Redding in the race before his tyre gave up the ghost on the 10th lap. Would have almost certainly faded in the latter stages, but a solid top 10 chance was lost.

Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team
Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

Photo by: Ducati Corse

Andrea Iannone - 7

Yet another rider to suffer with the soft Michelin front, albeit not to the same dramatic extent as Lorenzo or Dovizioso – with the result that the Austrian GP winner at least managed to get some points on the board with eighth. Led the most laps – 12 of the 22, against seven for Crutchlow – but stood no chance of clinging on to his advantage as the hard-shod riders came to the fore in the closing stages. A frustrating race, but it certainly could have been worse.

Andrea Iannone, Ducati Team
Andrea Iannone, Ducati Team

Photo by: Ducati Corse

Maverick Vinales - 6

Brake problems hampered Vinales in qualifying, effectively denying him his final run and restricting him to a spot on the third row, but the race was certainly not the catastrophe that previous mixed condition-outings have been for Suzuki. Spent the bulk of the race in seventh - albeit behind teammate Aleix Espargaro before his engine issue - before slumping to ninth late on as front tyre degradation robbed him of pace.

Maverick Viñales, Team Suzuki MotoGP
Maverick Viñales, Team Suzuki MotoGP

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography

Aleix Espargaro - 8

This was certainly up with Aleix's best showings of the season so far, with fourth place on the grid - ahead of the likes of Rossi and Dovizioso - representing a particularly herculean effort, a week on from fracturing his finger in an Austria. The race began promisingly as well, with the Granollers-born rider running sixth when his engine expired. Still, after his dreadful Sachsenring performance, this was a big step in the right direction.

Aleix Espargaro, Team Suzuki MotoGP
Aleix Espargaro, Team Suzuki MotoGP

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography

Cal Crutchlow - 10

No doubt some will say that Crutchlow is ill-deserving of the perfect score, simply that he won only because he was only one of three riders (the others being Loris Baz and Tito Rabat) who went with the 'right' tyre choice. But, choosing the right rubber is part of the game - Rossi and Lorenzo hedged their bets with the hard rear, but didn't have the nerve to go the whole hog and put on the hard front. Crutchlow did, survived the tricky opening laps, and reaped the reward. Bravo.

Podium: race winner Cal Crutchlow, Team LCR Honda
Podium: race winner Cal Crutchlow, Team LCR Honda

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography

Bradley Smith - 6

Building on the momentum from his top satellite placing in Austria, Smith did well to clear Q1 - beating the Pramac Ducatis to a spot in Q2 - outqualified teammate Pol Espargaro and ran ninth in the opening laps. Slipped down the order as the likes of Crutchlow and Rossi came scorching past, before a technical problem with his Tech 3 Yamaha mount stopped him in his tracks - denying him a likely top 10 finish.

Bradley Smith, Tech 3 Yamaha
Bradley Smith, Tech 3 Yamaha

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography

Pol Espargaro - 5

Brno was another race where the younger Espargaro brother was unable to beat teammate Smith as he has done for much of the season, although he at least came away with three points after a pretty gruelling race. Gained five places on the opening lap to run seventh, but was out of the top 10 by lap nine and never really looked like getting back there, despite the shuffling of the deck that occurred late in the race.

Pol Espargaro, Tech 3 Yamaha
Pol Espargaro, Tech 3 Yamaha

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography

Scott Redding - 5

With three laps remaining, Redding was sixth and 11 seconds behind Crutchlow. By the finish, he was 15th and over a minute down - showing just how badly his soft tyres dropped off the cliff. But, unlike most riders who suffered an alarming drop-off, it was the rear tyre that let him down - prompting fears of a possible repeat of his Argentina blowout. A shame, given how the Briton had thrived in the full wet conditions at the start of the race.

Scott Redding, Pramac Racing
Scott Redding, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography

Danilo Petrucci - 6

We're used to seeing Petrucci much further up the order in mixed conditions, yet the Italian never seemed entirely comfortable in either wet or dry at Brno. Soared up the order from his lowly grid spot of 16th - worsened by his Austria penalty - to run eighth, and seemed to do a better job of nursing his soft compound rubber to the finish than the likes of Iannone or Redding. Seventh was a fair return on a not particularly promising-looking weekend.

Danilo Petrucci, Pramac Racing
Danilo Petrucci, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography

Hector Barbera - 8

Besides Marquez, fifth-placed Barbera was second in the unofficial 'soft tyre' classification, a feat that's all the more impressive when you consider that he began to suffer a vibration on his Avintia Ducati with 10 laps to go. The Spaniard one of the few riders to offer some form of resistance to the charging Crutchlow, although keeping him at bay was never likely - and nor was staving off teammate Baz's charge in the closing laps.

Cal Crutchlow, Team LCR Honda, Hector Barbera, Avintia Racing
Cal Crutchlow, Team LCR Honda, Hector Barbera, Avintia Racing

Photo by: Toni Börner

Loris Baz - 9

A week after having his immediate MotoGP future secured by his Avintia team, Baz repaid the Madrid-based squad's faith in him by delivering its best result of the season, a fourth place, thanks in no small part to his choice to go with hard rubber soft and rear. It equalled his personal best ever MotoGP result - which came in similar conditions last year at Misano - although he said  a podium could have been on the cards if he hadn't lost so much time at the start.

Loris Baz, Avintia Racing
Loris Baz, Avintia Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography

Eugene Laverty - 7

Another rider who thought he had a shot at the podium in the tricky conditions was Laverty, the Irishman missing out on his goal by four seconds as he brought home his Aspar bike (equipped with soft front but hard rear) in sixth. Was left to rue an opening lap mistake at Turn 3 that cost him vital places, but from thereon it was another strong showing from a rider that still unfortunately faces an uncertain future at this level.

Eugene Laverty, Aspar MotoGP Team
Eugene Laverty, Aspar MotoGP Team

Photo by: Toni Börner

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