A champion's ride in unusual conditions netted points leader Jorge MartÌ_n his third victory of the season in Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Race 1 at Brno in the Czech Republic.
The race was run on wet tyres on a dry track and the 16-year-old Spaniard fought back from a poor start to catch Manuel Pagliani, Stefano Manzi and Brad Ray who had charged ahead.
After a solid pre-race rain shower the shortened, nine lap, race had to be run on wet tyres because of the continued threat of more rain. Any dampness on the track was evaporating as the 24 riders came under starter's orders and as the lights went out pole man Pagliani shot into an early lead.
The 18-year-old Italian had given pre race notice of his intention to ride away and set out to do just that. Half way round lap two he had a one second advantage over 15-year-old Italian Stefano Manzi and 17-year-old Briton Brad Ray. It was never that big again as Manzi and Ray closed in and MartÌ_n was quicker than all three.
For the second half of the race it was a four man battle for the lead with Pagliani relegated to the back of the group as Ray and MartÌ_n traded the lead and threatened to break away. They prevented that themselves by disrupting each other's lines and onto the final lap it was anyone's race.
MartÌ_n snatched the advantage and a crucial gap as they climbed the hill back to the finish for the final time.
‰ÛÏI could see on the big TV screen that I had a few metres on the other guys and that I didn't have to do anything crazy through the last section,‰Û
