Max Biaggi was ecstatic after scoring his debut MotoGP victory today, proving once again that he is the emperor of Brno. The Marlboro Yamaha Team man has a unique record at the epic Czech track, taking seven GP victories here in the past nine years (one in MotoGP, two in 500s and four in 250s) and starting the past three premier-class Czech GPs from pole position. Yesterday's pole was the 50th of his World Championship career. Biaggi rode a faultless race, getting the holeshot from pole and then resisting massive pressure from Honda rivals Valentino Rossi and Daijiro Kato. He was just metres ahead seven laps from the flag when Rossi ran into tyre problems, leaving Biaggi two seconds in front of Kato. "This victory means a lot to me, I gave everything I could," said the brilliant Italian. "That kind of race is very tough, tyre choice is very difficult, so is bike set-up, and then you have to ride to look after the tyres. I rode hard from the start and my pit board told me just how close Rossi was. I was getting signals '+0.1', +0.2', +0.0', so they would have overtaken me even if I'd made the tiniest mistake. So I stayed calm and used my brain to choose the right lines and save my tyres. "When I saw '+2.0' I was dreaming that this could be my first MotoGP victory but I never knew what had happened. I always look in front because I want to stay concentrated, so the only way I know what's happening behind is from my pit board. I just thought Kato had overtaken Rossi. "We struggled at the first three races this year but the bike improved and we recovered. It's never easy, if it was, everyone would have a good bike. So I won this one for everyone in the team, thanks to them."

Carlos Checa ran into bike set-up problems at Brno today, slipping to fifth after a stunning start had taken him from row two into second place. Unlike Marlboro Yamaha Team-mate Max Biaggi, Checa elected to use a modified M1 chassis here, but after the race admitted that the unit needed more testing. Checa and Biaggi will both test here tomorrow. "We changed the set-up for the warm-up but the results weren't so clear," explained the Spaniard. "So we started the race with a slightly different setting, but I immediately felt that I wouldn't be able to keep the front-running pace. I think we lost our way with the set-up of the new chassis, we just need to spend more time experimenting with different settings, so tomorrow's tests will be very useful."

World Championship leader Valentino Rossi (Honda) failed to finish today's Czech GP after running into tyre problems. Second throughout, the Italian pitted for a new rear tyre but retired after realising he wouldn't score points. Instead second place went to RCV first-timer Daijiro Kato. "That was a good race, I'm happy to finish second and I want to win the next one," said Kato. Rossi, who still leads today's third-place finisher Tohru Ukawa by 80 points, added: "I didn't seem to be able to make any impression on Biaggi, then the tyre went and that was that."

-----   Red Bull   -----

Red Bull Yamaha riders, Garry McCoy and John Hopkins had hoped for better results today in Round 10 of the Moto GP World Championship, but it was just not to be. McCoy starting from the front row was relegated to 16th place by the end of the first lap as he was squeezed out by the pack in turns 1 and 2. McCoy who qualified on the front row for the first time since the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2001 and was hoping for much more today. In qualifying yesterday, the Slide King from Australia, set the fastest ever lap of the Brno circuit by a 500cc machine.

Hopkins, who had "a hell of a start" according to the 19-year-old, American rookie, retired from the race after 12 laps when engine trouble forced him back into 18th place.

Garry McCoy: 13th scoring 3 points today - "I made a good start but by turn one and two things were terrible, there were a lot of guys bumping into each other and I was forced to back off. A few guys got pass me early and by later in the first lap I got bumped by Gibernau and lost some more places. So it wasn't really a good start to the race. Just shows you have to get away with the leaders.

By three laps into it, I thought I was making some progress but I just could not make any headway. We had a couple of race tyre choices and I guess I was hoping for better, but in the end the tyres really weren't that bad but I could of done with carrying more corner speed."

John Hopkins: Retired due to mechanical problems - "I got a great start off the line and held my position through the first corner when we all got bunched up. I had several sprays of stones from Ukawa and by the end of the first lap my windscreen was cracked with pieces flying off it and my helmet and visor got hit hard with the rocks. The next thing I noticed some liquid on the front inside of the windscreen so I knew I had some problems. By lap 12, I was forced to retire when the engine failed. I've since found out that one of the stones, courtesy of Ukawa, punctured the radiator and caused it to leak. So better luck next time I guess.

I really want to thank my crew also for their effort this weekend; I had a minor problem on the grid and all of them worked so fast and professionally to have the bike ready."

Peter Clifford ­ Director of Racing - "John thought it was a race, not a stone throwing contest. He was riding superbly but there is nothing much you can do against an overheating engine. Both guys got off the line great but it all went to hell in a basket for Garry in the first corner. It's not what we expected after qualifying well."