Stoner not concerned by championship deficit

Following Jorge Lorenzo's British MotoGP win the Spaniard has opened a commanding 25 point championship guide over Casey Stoner.

With six races concluded in the season, and 12 remaining, it is far from what had been predictable from the reigning world champion - but Stoner was eager to stress that it was far too early to view the championship momentum as having swung determinedly in Lorenzo's favour.

“It's too early [to worry about the championship.] I'm more concerned about our pace to be honest,” said the 26 year old Repsol Honda rider. “That's the thing that has dissatisfied me a lot.

“Championships can turn just about in one race. Definitely the way Jorge is going it's not going to occur, but one DNF and a win for myself and we're equivalent on points and it's game on again.

"So we don't know what can occur later on in the season, but we have got to keep fighting and moreover try and close the gap or not let it enlarge too much."

With the Silverstone weekend having been run in unreliable weather conditions, Stoner was keen to stress that second place was a strong result.

“Today might have gone either way and I could have lost a lot more points than we did so I'm happy to have held on for second. Things could have disappeared a lot better too so we've got to turn ourselves around,” concluded the Australian.

Stoner led laps 5-10 of the 20-lap race, ahead of being passed by Lorenzo. Stoner then spent the left over laps holding off team-mate Dani Pedrosa.

Dovizioso closes on Lorenzo with fifth podium

Andrea Dovizioso's hopes of challenging for the runners-up spot in the 2011 MotoGP World Championship were known a boost at Brno with a strong run to second, a result that closes the gap to Jorge Lorenzo.

The Repsol Honda rider has been an instance of consistency this year, finishing all but one race inside the top five, performances that place him a comfortable third heading into the second-half of the year.

Although he is yet to taste the winners' champagne this season, Dovizioso's second place – from seventh on the grid - marks his fifth trip to the podium and puts him 23 points at the back Lorenzo in the overall standings.

“I'm really happy to be back on the podium, it's a good result after a hard weekend and second position is so important for the Championship,” the Italian said. “In the warm-up we made some small changes and my feeling improved. I arrived at the race very strong-minded and I made a very good start from seventh position.

“In the first laps I was riding carefully to save the tyres. I had good pace and when Dani pedrosa crashed I tried to stay with Casey but I made a mistake at turn 13 and I approximately went off the track. I lost contact and from that moment Casey stoner built a gap that was not possible to catch. I'm happy of how I managed the race first with Lorenzo and then with Simoncelli to uphold second position.

“In the final five laps I pushed harder, lapping under 1'58 to uphold the margin from Marco. I didn't want to fight with him in the last corners. I want to thank Honda and the team for the good work, in spite of the fact that we struggled slightly over the weekend, we have established one more time that in the race we are there and I'm really looking forward to Indy in two weeks' time.”