Johann Zarco of France took the championship lead with a dominant, almost start to finish, victory at the sixth round of the eight race Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. Briton Matthew Hoyle had to fight hard early in the race for his second place as did third finisher Cyril Carrillo in the second half. “That was just fantastic,” said an emotional Zarco as he stepped down from the podium having received the winner’s trophy from MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden. “Things have gone well all weekend and I just wanted to get ahead and into my own rhythm. I tried hard early on to open up a lead then I just had to concentrate on not making any mistakes. It is great to take the championship lead so close to the end of the season.” Championship leader Lorenzo Savadori of Italy crashed out with 6 laps of the 13 still to go without being able to challenge for a leaderboard position. Both Hoyle and Carrillo had Spaniard Luis Salom to deal with on their way to the podium. Hoyle only got clear of him after five laps. “It was hard early on,” said Hoyle. “I got a great start but then a couple of the guys came past and I told myself just to play it calm. I started battling with Salom and he was fast on the straights but I was almost running into him in the corners.” “When I got ahead I concentrated on trying to get a good gap and not make any mistakes. I really wanted to bring it home and Zarco was too far ahead by the time I got away from Salom, I wasn’t going to catch him.” For the rest of the race Salom battled with Carrillo for third and it all came down to the last lap. “He tried to out-brake me,” said Carrillo. “It had been a pretty wild battle and on the last lap he overdid it and went straight on while I made the corner.” In glorious sunshine Hoyle made a fantastic start but Zarco soon swept into the lead. Zarco had looked determined all weekend and by the end of the first lap had an almost 2 second lead over Hoyle, Salom, and Americans Kris Turner and Cameron Beaubier. Championship leader Savadori was well back in 17th Beaubier crashed dramatically on lap two as the pack fought to occupy the same piece of road. Zarco was in the groove and extended his lead by a second on lap two while Salom and Hoyle bumped fairings for second just ahead of Trabalon, Carrillo and Turner. Zarco could soon relax a little with a three second lead but was still pulling away up front while the gloves were off behind and the Salom v Hoyle battle provided the entertainment. Lap five saw Hoyle get away from Salom into a clear second leaving the Spaniard then to deal with Carrillo. Turner crashed out of the fifth place battle. Hoyle had his head down and a clear track but could make no big impression on Zarco even though he set the fastest lap of the race at half distance. Carrillo and Salom continued to fight it out for third. Christian Trabalon lay fifth but was eventually caught by Norway’s Sturla Fagerhaug. They were well ahead of Sweden’s Robert Gull, American JD Beach and Deane Brown of Scotland who were having an intense battle for seventh. Savadori crashed out of a huge battle for tenth and lost his championship lead in an incident that also took down Hungarian Peter Sebestyen and Briton Jamie Mossey. With a five second lead and only three laps to go Zarco just had to keep his concentration going as did Hoyle who had a similar advantage over the third place battle that continued unabated between Carrillo and Salom. With two races remaining and 50 points still to play for Zarco now heads the championship by 23 points from Savadori and Hoyle has moved up to third a further eighteen points adrift. 2007 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Brno, Czech Republic August 18, 2007 Race Results (all on KTM 125s): 1. Johann ZARCO (FRA), 13 laps, 29:20.192 2. Matthew HOYLE (GBR), -7.054 seconds 3. Cyril CARRILLO (FRA), -10.670 seconds 4. Luis SALOM (SPA), -16.139 seconds 5. Cristian TRABALON (SPA), -18.795 seconds 6. Sturla FAGERHAUG (NOR), -18.805 seconds 7. Robert GULL (SWE), -26.943 seconds 8. J.D. BEACH (USA), -26.969 seconds 9. Deane BROWN (GBR), -27.403 seconds 10. Lucy GLÖCKNER (GER), -28.534 seconds 11. Adam BLACKLOCK (GBR), -35.978 seconds 12. Lukas SEMBERA (CZE), -39.107 seconds 13. Javier CHOLBI (SPA), -40.218 seconds 14. Markus REITERBERGER (GER), -64.765 seconds 15. Christoph SCHÖNBERG (GER), -67.124 seconds 16. Stuart MITCHELL (GBR), -79.360 seconds 17. Peter SEBESTYEN (HUN), -6 laps, DNF, crash 18. Jamie MOSSEY (GBR), -6 laps, DNF, crash 19. Lorenzo SAVADORI (ITA), -6 laps, DNF, crash 20. Daniel KARTHEININGER (GER), -7 laps, DNF, retired 21. Kris TURNER (USA), -9 laps, DNF, crash 22. Kevin SÁNCHEZ (SPA), -9 laps, DNF, retired 23. Cameron BEAUBIER (USA), -12 laps, DNF, crash Championship Point Standings (after 6 of 8 races): 1. Zarco, 109 points 2. Savadori, 86 points 3. Hoyle, 68 points 4. Salom, 58 points 5. Beaubier, 56 points 6. Carrillo, 51 points 7. Reiterberger, 49 points 8. Gull, 42 points 9. Brown, 36 points 10. TIE, Turner/Trabalon, 34 points 12. Fagerhaug, 31 points 13. Glockner, 29 points 14. TIE, Kartheininger/Sembera/Beach, 28 points 17. Blacklock, 21 points 18. Cholbi, 14 points 19. Schonberger, 13 points 20. Mitchell, 11 points 21. TIE, Mossey/Sebestyen, 7 points