91Èȱ¬

MotoGP may have had three weeks off but normal service was soon resumed for championship leader Casey Stoner with a win in Brno.

It was the wrong result for the championship as a spectacle but a very good win for Stoner and Honda.

It has given him a nice buffer at the top of the standings now.

He rode very well as ever but the win was handed to him when team-mate Dani Pedrosa crashed out. I think Dani would have given him a real run for his money as he was so fast in qualifying.

He was also helped out by a bizarre decision from Jorge Lorenzo to start on the soft tyre. Only he and Alvaro Bautista opted to use the softer tyre and as soon as I saw it - with track temperatures higher than they've been all week - I thought it was an odd choice.

It was a gamble that didn't work.

However, having very nearly crashed early on - it was a great save - he has still come home with 13 points, so it is not all bad.

Stoner now leads by more than a whole race win, which is a big advantage. He can race tactically for the rest of the season and afford to settle for second or third instead of fighting for every win and risking crashing out.

I am very pleased that Marco Simoncelli finally got on the podium. He has been very fast all season without putting a proper result on the table and you saw a very mature ride from him to bring it home in third.

He got into fourth place early on and a few races ago he would have got excited and had a lunge at Lorenzo but instead he took his time and made a clinical pass at the right time.

I've no doubt that now he has had a third place he will soon be fighting for a win. He is that quick.

Ducati look to have made a good stride forward, which is good news for Valentino Rossi and the championship. He was sixth but a lot closer to the leader and he could play his part in the run-in now.

A lot of the teams are staying in Brno for a test of next year's 1000cc bikes on Monday which will be fascinating. I have no idea how much faster the bigger bikes will be but we can expect to see some fireworks.

Steve Parrish was talking to 91Èȱ¬ Sport's Tom Rostance