Roman Emperor lords it over rivals.

Max Biaggi proved why he is the acknowledged king of Brno, destroying the GP500 field in the Czech Republic Grand Prix to become the series eighth winner in eleven races this season.

The Italian, something of a track specialist at the Czech Republic facility, was only ever headed right at the start of the 22-lap race, and then despite leading away from the green lights. Loris Capirossi made light of his practice crash injuries to push to the front on the opening lap but, once Biaggi had re-asserted himself, the race for first was effectively over.

The Marlboro man eased away over the next few laps to hold a comfortable three second lead by the sixth tour, and had as much as ten seconds in hand as the event drew to a close. Only some exuberant show-boating on the Roman Emperor's behalf in the closing stages - including both wheelies and stoppies - reduced that advantage by the flag, but Biaggi still managed to cruise home by over six seconds.

With the Yamaha so far ahead of its rivals, much attention was focused on the scrap for second. Initially, this had involved both Kenny Roberts and Capirossi as well as the two men who kept the capacity crowd enthralled, but Roberts lost touch on lap four when he missed a braking point and ran wide, and Capirossi gradually fell away as the pain from his injured hand got the better of him.

Their demise left Valentino Rossi and Garry McCoy to slug it out for the honour of being second-best on the day but, regardless of where they finished, the pair would have won awards for entertainment - despite Biaggi's best efforts. McCoy's sideways style had elevated him from fifth to second in short order, but Rossi refused to be beaten by the little Australian, and set about making his way back into the runners-up spot.

Time and again the two riders passed and re-passed, before Rossi got the break he needed as McCoy went in to turn five hot on the brakes and found the backmarking Sebastien LeGrelle where he wanted to put the Red Bull bike. Although an accident was avoided, the newly re-signed McCoy had let his best chance of second slip away and he had to be satisfied with a podium visit in third.

Roberts hung on for fourth, despite the Suzuki not being at its best either in the hot conditions or on the technical Brno circuit. Capirossi's injury played into the American's hands too, as the threat from the Pons Honda fell away as the Italian succumbed to a combination of pain and exhaustion. Indeed, Capirossi failed to take the slowing down lap, having pulled into his pit and collapsed as a result of the heat.

Behind the black-and-white Emerson-backed machine, the Repsol boys treated the fans to a battle of their own, which was joined in the latter stages by both Jeremy McWilliams and Nobuatsu Aoki. Although Alex Criville had had the better starting spot, it was Sete Gibernau who came through from twelfth to take the internecine honours, with the world champion in his slipstream at the end. Aoki got the better of the fuel-injected Aprilia of McWilliams, with Tady Okada further back and rounding out the top ten.

Championship challenger Carlos Checa endured another trying day in eleventh, and could only watch as Rossi usurped him as Roberts' biggest threat in the standings. The American currently holds a 42-point advantage of the Italian rookie but, with eight winners already this season, nothing is certain in MotoGP just now.

Shinya Nakano and the Chesterfield Yamaha Tech 3 team turned their dominant qualifying performance into a race victory in the GP250 race at Brno, finishing ahead of Tohru Ukawa's Yamaha with team mate, polesitter and current championship leader Olivier Jacque completing the podium positions.

Having taken the lead from the start, it seemed as if the two silver Yamaha's may be left behind as, first, Ukawa and, then, Marco Melandri on the works Aprilia rose to occupy the lead two positions by lap four, the former managing to gain the lead from third place within the space of two corners on the third lap. The leading four were joined by Ralf Waldmann on a second Aprilia, following a series of fastest laps by the German, but his choice of hard tyres proved to be ineffective as he trailed off to finish in a distant fifth position.

Ukawa's lead was short lived, however, as his fellow countryman made the most of his choice to run on the softest front tyre of the lead group riders, and regained the lead on lap nine, having passed both his team mate and Melandri four circuits earlier. A fastest race lap of 2mins 04.113secs on lap 14 contributed to both Japanese riders breaking away from the following pair of Jacque and Melandri, and a continuation of this form eventually resulted in Nakano registering a comfortable win to cut the Frenchman's championship lead to 7 points.

Behind the leading Yamahas, a race-long battle ensued between Jacque and Melandri with the Frenchman just denying Melandri his first ever 250cc podium finish, despite the obvious advantage that the Italian enjoyed under braking into the first corner.

With Waldmann finishing a lonely fifth, the race long battle for sixth between Daijiro Katoh's Honda and the Aprilia of Franco Battaini finally went the way of the Japanese rider. A similar race was enjoyed by Argentine Sebastian Porto and Jay Vincent for eighth place until the Briton, heading for his first top ten finish of the year, crashed out on lap 17 of the 20-lap race. This, in turn, allowed Klaus Nohles to complete the comeback ride of the race. Having started tenth, the Aprilia rider found himself last after one lap, following an atrocious start, but outstanding racing and the demise of others finally saw him occupying ninth position by the chequered flag. Britain's Jamie Robinson collected the final championship point in 15th place, despite starting from an excellent seventh position and falling as low as 19th after a bad start.

Polesitter Roberto Locatelli won his third GP125 race of the season to close the championship gap on second placed Youichi Ui.

The Japanese rider got the drop on his rival at the green light, but Locatelli was in no mood to hang around, and retook the advantage towards the end of the first lap of 19. The Aprilia rider then appeared to control the race to the end, even though his early lead was subsequently whittled away by the chasing trio of Ui, Emilio Alzamora and Lucio Cecchinello.

The quartet ran as one through the opening laps, with Alzamora and Ui trading second place on successive laps, and Cecchinello having the nerve to snatch third from the Spaniard as early as lap four, but Locatelli was only ever troubled when Ui towed up to the rear of his Aprilia at half-distance.

The Japanese briefly assumed the lead on lap nine, only to have it taken back again by Locatelli next time around and, from then on, the Italian Vasco Rossi Racing rider was able to pull out a two-second gap over his pursuers.

The battle then became one for second place, as Alzamora, free from the threat of Cecchinello after the Italian made a mistake, closed back in on Ui, taking the runner-up position briefly before the Derbi man re-assumed control. The pair finished line astern, respectively 1.5 and 1.7secs adrift of Locatelli.

The Aprilia man, met on the slowing down lap by fans in full devil costume, erased the memory of his last lap accident in 1999, and now trails Ui by just five points in the championship chase.

Behind the leading trio, Cecchinello took a distant fourth - his best finish of the year - after saving a potential accident in remarkable style. Givi-LCR team-mate Nobby Ueda was an equally distant fifth, having lost race rival Simone Sanna to mechanical failure on lap 13.

The Japanese rider was followed at a distance by a squabbling group headed by Steve Jenkner and Arnaud Vincent until the final minutes, when the German crashed out. Vincent subsequently took sixth - from 20th on the grid - with championship challenger Mirko Giansanti making up places at the death to snatch seventh. Gino Borsoi, Jaroslav Hules and Ivan Goi rounded out the top ten.

Joining Jenkner in the gravel were such notables as Randy de Puniet (lap one), Williams de Angelis (five), Angel Nieto Jr (seven) and Pablo Nieto (19). Masao Azuma and Gigi Scalvini joined Sanna in mechanical retirement. Adrian Araujo did not start as a result of the wrist and leg injuries he suffered on Saturday, but same accident victim Manuel Poggiali soldiered on to finish in the points in twelfth. Britain's Leon Haslam was 17th.