World champion Valentino Rossi of Italy won the Czech MotoGP at Brno for the second year in a row after his Yamaha team mate Jorge Lorenzo of Spain crashed out late in the race.
Spanish rider Dani Pedrosa took second, finishing nearly 12 seconds behind and Toni Elias of Spain was third on his Honda to round out the podium.
Rossi and Lorenzo finished one-two in qualifying, setting up an eagerly anticipated race between the two leading world title challengers on a warm clear day in front of around 138,000 spectators.
Rossi took an early lead with Lorenzo pushing him furiously until the Spaniard leaned too far into a turn and crashed out, leaving it to the Italian to easily cruise to victory on the 5.4-km course.
The victory extended Rossi's overall title lead to 50 points over Lorenzo and put more pressure on third-placed Casey Stoner of Australia, who is out for the next three races while he recovers from a virus.
Rossi has 212 points, followed by Lorenzo on 162 and Stoner at 150.
The riders now enjoy a break before returning to action at the end of the month at the Indianapolis Grand Prix in the United States.
