- Dani wins Indy - MotoGP race victory for Pedrosa

In the second visit to the United States of the season, this was the third year of MotoGP’s residency at the historic oval circuit, now with its road racing infield section. Lorenzo had been the 2009 winner at Indy, preceded in 2008 by team-mate Valentino Rossi, the current reigning world champion. The only other man in the field to have won here was Marco Simoncelli, who was on top in the only 250cc Grand Prix race ever to be held here.

There were three American riders for the home crowd to get behind, two of whom were up front, having qualified on the front row of the grid. It was the least experienced GP man who went quickest, with Tech 3 Yamaha rider Ben Spies on pole position for only his 15th Grand Prix. It was also the first time that someone from the US had sat on pole since May 2008, when Colin Edwards was there in China. The team-mates ran with their M1 machines in patriotic Texan colours here, but with Edwards to start from ninth.

The other home rider was Nicky Hayden, with the Marlboro Ducati, who was in third place for his best start of the year to date. Spies and Hayden were split by the inevitable Lorenzo in second. He and Rossi ran with a Fiat 500 tie-in livery here, with Jorge’s crash helmet done out to look like the Marvel Comics super hero Iron Man. Rossi had qualified seventh, and of course was still not at 100% fitness. He had suffered three practice crashes, an unprecedented number for the Italian.

Honda riders were kept off the front row, but Repsol duo Andrea Dovizioso and Pedrosa were next in line, fourth and fifth respectively. Despite this, there was talk that Dani would have good race pace. The other works Ducati of Casey Stoner was sixth, ahead of Rossi, Simoncelli (for the San Carlo Gresini Honda team) and Edwards. The Rizla Suzuki men, Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautistá, were in tenth and eleventh respectively.

Gresini rider Marco Melandri was twelfth, for what would be his 200th GP start. He had begun with a 125cc Honda in 1997, then raced 250cc Aprilia machinery, before joining the MotoGP class in 2003. Marco has 22 GP victories, but hasn’t looked like adding to that total this year. He was followed by the returning Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda), Aleix Espargaró and Mika Kallio (both Pramac Ducati), Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati), and the not fully fit Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda).

Race day was very hot, and four men opted for the harder compound rear Bridgestone tyres - Dovizioso, Pedrosa, Stoner and Edwards. At the start, the two Honda men were among the leaders, the other two ended up mid-pack. Spies retained the lead heading into the left-curving turn one, from Dovizioso, Hayden, Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Rossi, Simoncelli, Melandri, Stoner, Edwards, Capirossi, Kallio, Bautistá, Espargaró and de Puniet. Pedrosa moved up behind team-mate Dovizioso along Hulman Boulevard, the back straight, passing Hayden for the left-handed turn ten.

The works Yamaha men were in fifth and sixth, but Spies had his M1 in the lead, now pursued by the Repsol pair. Sadly, Melandri’s landmark race ended early when the seventh placed Italian crashed out on the lowside at a left-hander. That left Spies leading Dovizioso, Pedrosa, Hayden, Lorenzo, Rossi, Stoner, Simoncelli, Edwards, Kallio, Capirossi, Bautistá, Espargaró, Barberá, Aoyama and de Puniet. Pedrosa was quickest at this stage, and duly overtook Dovizioso for second on the inside at turn one.

Spies looked to be moving clear initially, but a couple of fastest laps from Pedrosa helped to close that advantage, and eased him away from team-mate Dovizioso. A momentary wobble from Ben also helped Dani, and soon enough he was close enough to get into the slipstream for the main start-finish straight. Pedrosa was therefore able to go to the inside for turn one and take over in the lead, this move coming at one-quarter race distance. Meanwhile, Hayden had partially dislodged his left knee slider, and was having problems with it hanging loose.

Hayden’s difficulties had already led to Lorenzo and then Rossi getting past, so that two red bikes were together as Stoner now followed his Ducati team-mate. The Australian also took advantage, easing into the space inside Hayden for turn ten and going through into sixth. By now, Pedrosa and Spies were clear of Dovizioso and Lorenzo, and there was another gap to Rossi and Stoner. However, Casey would not be continuing his run of podium results that had started in Assen, as he crashed out at the right-handed turn eleven loop, losing the front end as he pushed the pace.

Pedrosa continued to be fastest, moving out of range of Spies, to be more than four seconds clear halfway into the race. Dovizioso and Lorenzo still ran close together, the championship leader looking for a way past. With the Italian suffering from an uncontrolled ‘moment’ with the rear of the Honda, Jorge attacked at turn ten, only to run wide and let Andrea get away again. However, the gap soon closed again, with the Yamaha man getting by on the brakes on the inside for turn one. And now Rossi was also closing on Dovizioso.

From tenth place initially, Edwards had then lost out to Kallio, Bautistá, Espargaró and the rest, and at this stage he made a stop at the pits to have his rear tyre changed. Although he rejoined the race, soon enough he returned to his garage having found that he’d got no grip at the rear. Behind Hayden, the main pack was still led by seventh man Simoncelli, with Bautistá now past Kallio for eighth, Espargaró still close on tail of the other Pramac machine.

Ten laps from home, comfortable leader Pedrosa was just over five seconds in front of Spies, and he was able to let this drop down to about four seconds in the last few laps. It was 3.5s for the last lap as Dani made it three wins from the 2010 season. In all his previous MotoGP class seasons he has won only twice. Spies had one ‘moment’ with the rear but took his best GP result with second, and Lorenzo was in a clear third at the flag. This meant he was no longer able to chase Mick Doohan’s record of unbroken first or second place finishes, which had stretched to fourteen races in 1997.

The late stages had seen Italians Dovizioso and Rossi contesting fourth. Andrea ran wide in turn ten, and three corners later, at another left-hander, he also left enough room so that Valentino went through on the inside. The Yamaha rider had enough pace to move clear, taking the place at the flag. Dovizioso was fifth, with Hayden still managing sixth despite not having been able to fully commit to left-handers. It meant he moved on to a total of 1200 points from his eight GP seasons.

The battle for seventh had been partially broken up by the exit of ninth placed Kallio, who had a lowside crash at turn ten. Simoncelli and Bautistá were still close, and in that order, at the finish. Espargaró was ninth, heading the contest between Barberá and Capirossi, which had seen a minor clash as the Spaniard went past. Aoyama and de Puniet completed the finishers, with four men not making it home: Melandri, Stoner, Edwards and Kallio.

Dani Pedrosa’s win helped him close the gap to Jorge Lorenzo, whose third place meant he lost nine points to his compatriot. The advantage of 68 is still more than handy. Meanwhile, Ben Spies proved that he will be ready to win when he has a works bike to ride, as he had beaten six men who had that advantage here. He moved past Nicky Hayden in the championship, and closed on the three men ahead of him. But will it help some of the others when they switch back to Europe for the next race?

Moves for 2011: As expected, Valentino Rossi’s move to the Italian Ducati team had been confirmed, and it was known that Ben Spies would take his place on the works Yamaha. There was some talk that Rossi hoped to take his Yamaha crew with him, but either way he would partner Nicky Hayden, who was staying with Ducati for two more years. Casey Stoner is of course going to Honda, where Dani Pedrosa has been the number one in recent years. It was known that Andrea Dovizioso would also be racing a factory machine for HRC in 2011, but perhaps this would not mean in the full works Repsol team.

Standings after eleven races: Lorenzo 251; Pedrosa 183; Dovizioso 126; Stoner 119; Rossi 114; Spies 110; Hayden 109; de Puniet 78; Simoncelli 63; Melandri 61; Edwards 57; Barberá 54.
Yamaha 260; Honda 220; Ducati 159; Suzuki 56.

Bookmark or share this story with:

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS

More headlines

latest threads

Poll