Moto2: Elias stamps authority with Brno win
Moto2 title leader Toni Elias stamped his authority on the 2010 championship by wining his fourth race of the season in the Czech Republic on Sunday.
The Gresini Moriwaki rider had been disqualified from Friday practice at Brno for an illegal test session last Sunday at Misano - his team simply hadn't realised it wasn't allowed - but he still qualified third on the grid and led the field through turn one.
Former title leader Shoya Tomizawa moved ahead at the end of the first lap, and some frantic Moto2 racing followed before double 2010 winner Andrea Iannone - tenth at the end of lap one - took the lead on lap six,
When the Fimmco Speed Up rider began to pull clear, a repeat of his dominant wins at Mugello and Assen looked likely, but a determined Elias reeled in the Italian - with Roby Rolfo in tow.
Rolfo briefly took the lead before being cruelly sidelined by a technical problem, leaving Elias to build a 2.3sec victory margin over the remaining five laps.
And it wasn't over Iannone. The #29 lost out to Catalunya winner Yuki Takahashi in the closing stages, as the Tech 3 rider claimed his second podium of the season.
Early leader Tomizawa faded back to tenth, while Thomas Luthi - who began round nine second in the points behind Elias - was one place behind the Japanese in eleventh.
Elias - who took the Gresini team's 100th podium today - is now 55 points ahead of new nearest rival Iannone, with Luthi down to third.
Home star Karel Abraham, who will move with his team to MotoGP next year on a sixth satellite Ducati, was not able to start the race after his accident in qualifying.
Race results - Brno:
1. Elias (Moriwaki)
2. Takahashi (Tech 3) +2.312s
3. Iannone (Speed Up) +2.959s
4. Cluzel (Suter) +6.905s
5. Simon (Suter) +6.794s
6. Talmacsi (Speed Up) +7.024s
7. Debon (FTR) +7.808s
8. Corsi (Motobi) +11.691s
9. Bradl (Suter) +15.958s
10. Tomizawa (Suter) +15.974s
22. Redding (Suter) +44.281s
