Arizona Tribune - Marc Marquez wins Czech MotoGP as Bezzecchi banned

Pole sitter Ai Ogura of Japan finished second ahead of Marquez's factory Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia.

Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi sat out the race as a penalty for slapping a track steward in the face following a crash in Saturday's sprint.

But the Italian on a factory Aprilia still leads the MotoGP rankings with 180 points, ahead of his teammate Jorge Martin with 172 and Fabio Di Giannantonio on a Ducati with 157.

On a scorching hot day in the second Czech city of Brno, pole sitter Ogura on an Aprilia took the lead on the first lap with Bagnaia and Marquez tucked behind him.

Bagnaia struck first in the second lap and Marquez followed suit seconds later, the two factory Ducatis settling down at the top with Ogura third.

Marquez circled patiently behind Bagnaia, narrowing his gap on his teammate to a tenth of a second by the 11th of 21 laps.

The seven-time MotoGP champion struck in lap 16, overtaking Bagnaia and immediately getting away to seal his fifth Brno MotoGP victory.

Moments later, Bagnaia also gave in to mounting pressure from Ogura.

Ogura closed in on Marquez in the final laps but settled for second in the end, while Bagnaia held off Di Giannantonio in fourth.

Martin had to serve two long-lap penalties for causing a crash in the Hungarian GP two weeks ago in which he took out four riders including Bezzecchi.

The MotoGP circuit has two races to go before the summer break.

Earlier on Sunday, Spain's Ivan Ortola took his maiden win in the Moto2 class despite serving a long-lap penalty, while Malaysia's Hakim Danish also relished his first-ever win in the Moto3 category.

W.Nelson--AT