Brno, 19 August: Honda LCR rider Carlos Checa delivered on his pre-race promise with a top ten finish in today’s Czech Grand Prix. Starting from 12th on the grid, Checa scored his best result since the Chinese GP in May where he also finished in tenth position. In sunny conditions Checa battled fiercely with Sylvain Guintoli and Toni Elias over the second half of the race and finished ahead of both of his main rivals.

Checa raced for the first time today with new exhaust and engine specification on his Honda RC212V and was pleased with the improved engine performance after a busy weekend of set-up work by the LCR team. The race was won by Casey Stoner before a massive crowd of 141,000 spectators.

CHECA: Tenth - Championship: 14th/35 points

CHECA: “It seems a little strange to say it but I’m satisfied with tenth, the team have done a lot of hard work this weekend. I think we achieved the best result that was possible and now we have a two day test at Brno which will very beneficial. I was fighting a lot with Sylvain Guintoli and Toni Elias and this is much more fun than riding alone, there was a lot of overtaking. On the engine side we are now in a good situation but we still need to optimise the chassis and tyre performance.”

In the 250cc grand prix Irish rider Eugene Laverty failed to finish when electrical problems forced him to stop after 11 laps.

LAVERTY: “It’s a pity the bike stopped with an electrical problem but I was still having big issues with the front-end in the race. Losing track time on Friday with a crash and the weather proved costly, I was trying to both learn the track and find the right set-up.”