valentino rossi put steady pressure on the reigning world champion casey stoner at the brno circuit in the czech republik, forcing a mistake that lead to the world champions lowside and dnf. the battle behind was no kinder as tony elias punched his way to second and vetran gp starter loris capirossi trailing close for third. casey stoner did his usual get the eff out of here rabbit breakaway, but the pace was just too hectic, with rossi not giving him head room to make peace with the track. instead the doctor hung with him, not losing ground, and not moving in for the kill, all the while stoners attention went from race leading to rossi worrying. when the lowside came, rossi went by with a look probably a lot like his helmet from mugello. kawasakis anthony west did good with a 5th, makes the bosses less likely to can you this week... and speaking of, uh, marco melandri gets 7th! surely the michelin problem kept him from being on the lower rung of race society. and speaking of those guys, the michelin riders had it real hard and they did not shine at all. early front runner john hopkins faded to 11th with lingering affects from a couple of recent get offs.

1. rossi

2. elias

3. capirossi

4. nakano

5. west

6. vermeulen

7. melandri

8. de angelis

9. dovizioso

10. lorenzo