LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow stormed to a thrilling maiden MotoGP victory during the Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno.
Crutchlow started in 10th place for the wet race, following rain showers earlier in the day. Some opted to start with soft front and rear wet tyres but Crutchlow went for hard tyres all round.
Andrea Iannone led the way in the early stages as those on the hard tyre struggled, while Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi fell from second and sixth to 10th and 12th.
Crutchlow also lost ground on the hard tyres but the momentum soon moved in his favour as riders on the soft compound started to struggle.
The British rider was the first to put in a 2m08s lap and soon found himself moving up the order, finding himself around four seconds off the lead by the time he passed Aleix Espargaro.
He caught the lead pack, before displacing pole-sitter Marc Marquez, Hector Barbera and Scott Redding to move into second place.
Once he was ahead of Iannone, Crutchlow was able to eke out a lead and cross the line seven seconds clear of the recovering Rossi.
He became the first British rider to claim a premier class victory since Barry Sheene at the 1981 Swedish Grand Prix. Marquez bounced back on the soft tyre to finish third.
Loris Baz was on the same strategy as Crutchlow and finished fourth, ahead of Barbera, Eugene Laverty and Danilo Petrucci.
Lorenzo was down in 17th after a pitstop to change bikes, while Iannone and Redding dropped to eighth and 15th. Dani Pedrosa was down in 12th and Andrea Dovizioso retired.
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