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Moto2 Czech Republic: Bastianini takes championship lead with Brno victory

Enea Bastianini put in an imperious performance in the Moto2 Czech Grand Prix to claim his second win of the season and take the lead in the championship

The Italtrans rider nailed his launch from third on the grid to grab the holeshot on the run into Turn 1 at the start of the fourth round of the 2020 Moto2 campaign.

Poleman Joe Roberts slotted into second ahead of the Marc VDS bike of Sam Lowes, though both would briefly fall behind the Ajo Kalex of Jorge Martin.

This allowed Bastianini to open up a lead of close to eight tenths of a second, with Roberts regaining second from Martin at the Schwantz corner of Turn 10.

But the American Racing rider soon came under attack from Lowes at the start of the second lap, with the latter moving into second at Turn 3.

Lowes began the hunt on Bastianini, who now held a gap of a second over the chasing pack.

The Marc VDS rider got the gap down to eight tenths by the third lap, with the Briton closing to within half a second by lap seven.

Bastianini, however, began to wind up his pace again and get the gap back out to a second by the closing stages.

Though Lowes put on a bit of a charge on the last lap and cut Bastianini's lead down to half a second, the Italian came under no threat on the run to the line to move 18 points clear in the standings.

Lowes' second marks his first podium since he won the 2016 Moto2 Aragon GP.

Roberts was cut adrift of the leading duo early on in the 19-lap race, but kept his pace strong enough as the only one of the leading group on the softer front tyre to avoid coming under threat from the chasing Luca Marini in fourth.

Taking the chequered flag in third for his maiden podium, Roberts becomes the first American in any grand prix class to stand on the rostrum since Ben Spies was second in the MotoGP Valencia GP in 2011. Roberts' podium is also first for an American in the intermediate class since John Kocinski at Assen in 1993.

Marini was a damage-limiting fourth on the Sky VR46 Kalex, with Augusto Fernandez completing the top five for Marc VDS ahead of the sister VR46 bike of Marco Bezzecchi.

Jorge Navarro was a distant seventh on the Speed Up, beating Martin - who tumbled down the order after his early podium run - Aspar's Hafizh Syahrin and his team-mate Aron Canet.

Former championship leader Tetsuta Nagashima's tough run of form continued at Brno, with the Ajo rider slipping to third in the standings after taking the chequered flag at Brno in 11th.

Moto2 Czech Republic Results - 19 laps

Pos Rider Team Gap
1 Enea Bastianini Italtrans Racing Team 39m13.926s
2 Sam Lowes EG 0,0 Marc VDS 0.423s
3 Joe Roberts Tennor American Racing 5.948s
4 Luca Marini SKY Racing Team VR46 8.797s
5 Augusto Fernandez EG 0,0 Marc VDS 9.392s
6 Marco Bezzecchi SKY Racing Team VR46 10.306s
7 Jorge Navarro MB Conveyors - Speed Up Racing 10.575s
8 Jorge Martin Red Bull KTM Ajo 11.366s
9 Hafizh Syahrin Openbank Aspar Team 12.875s
10 Aron Canet Openbank Aspar Team 14.266s
11 Tetsuta Nagashima Red Bull KTM Ajo 15.378s
12 Xavi Vierge Petronas Sprinta Racing 19.031s
13 Remy Gardner ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team 19.282s
14 Nicolo Bulega Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 19.598s
15 Marcel Schrotter Liqui Moly Intact GP 19.638s
16 Fabio Di Giannantonio MB Conveyors - Speed Up Racing 22.245s
17 Thomas Luthi Liqui Moly Intact GP 24.406s
18 Bo Bendsneyder NTS RW Racing GP 25.065s
19 Marcos Ramirez Tennor American Racing 25.170s
20 Edgar Pons Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 26.727s
21 Dominique Aegerter NTS RW Racing GP 27.004s
22 Lorenzo Baldassarri Flexbox HP 40 29.986s
23 Somkiat Chantra Idemitsu Honda Team Asia 36.034s
24 Lorenzo Dalla Porta Italtrans Racing Team 36.411s
25 Andi Izdihar Idemitsu Honda Team Asia 45.780s
- Stefano Manzi MV Agusta Forward Racing Retirement
- Jake Dixon Petronas Sprinta Racing Retirement
- Hector Garzo Flexbox HP 40 Retirement
- Kasma Kasmayudin ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team Retirement
- Simone Corsi MV Agusta Forward Racing Withdrawn

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