WORLD Champion Nicki Pedersen secured the Grand Prix victory he had been craving this season to move another step closer to back-to-back titles.
Consistency had been the key to Pedersen holding a ten-point lead going into the mid-season break, with the Dane reaching all five Finals before Prague, but his determination to take the top step of the podium at the Marketa Stadium was clear.
Pedersen duly delivered, taking a second consecutive win at the venue - and he received a bonus from fellow countryman Hans Andersen, very strong at the end of the meeting, who relegated Jason Crump to third place in the Final.
Crump remains Pedersen's closest challenger overall, now 15 points behind with five rounds still to go with Greg Hancock and Tomasz Gollob losing ground on the top two despite strong performances.
It was a meeting which saw most of the leading contenders to the fore, and in fact seven of the top eight riders going into the event reached the semi-finals.
The other man to make it was Rune Holta, courtesy of a trademark last-gasp win in Heat 20 to reach the semi-finals, and he replaces Fredrik Lindgren in the top eight.
Pedersen was largely untroubled in scoring 14 points in the qualifiers, beaten only by Leigh Adams in Heat 6, whilst Crump's two dropped points came against Pedersen and an up-and-down Chris Harris in
Heat 13, the British rider making a terrific start from the outside.
Andersen endured a mid-meeting lull and had to wait until his last outing to book his semi-final place, but he moved himself right into contention by defeating Pedersen in the semi, a race which saw Andreas Jonsson and Adams make their exits.
Hancock and Crump fought out a splendid duel in the second semi, and Crump felt his defeat in that race proved costly in the final by way of his gate choice.
They progressed at the expense of Holta and Gollob, although Holta in particular gave Crump some anxious moments.
Andersen, off gate 2, made fractionally the best start in the Final but Pedersen, from the outside, was quickly around the outside and clear, leaving Andersen to defend second place and make his own position in the top eight much more comfortable.
But it was the World Champion's night, and a delighted Pedersen said: "I keep reaching the Finals but I said to myself for this one that I didn't want to just reach the Final, I wanted to win it.
"I felt I had a little more confidence than the others and the set-up was great all night, so I'm very, very happy and the tracks coming up are all good race-tracks.
"We had a talk amongst the team beforehand because last year the lead
was down to eleven points in the middle of the season, and we really wanted to extend it this year. We did it, so the plan is working!"
OVERALL STANDINGS:
Nicki Pedersen 102,
Jason Crump 87,
Greg Hancock 77,
Tomasz Gollob 74,
Hans Andersen 64,
Leigh Adams 59,
Andreas Jonsson 55,
Rune Holta 48,
Fredrik Lindgren 45,
Scott Nicholls 41,
Niels-Kristian Iversen 39,
Chris Harris 37,
Bjarne Pedersen 32,
Krzysztof Kasprzak 22,
Lukas Dryml 20.
