For a little while, it was looking like Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa might be on his way to a second consecutive win at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (the Spaniard won last year’s event) in front of more than 51,000 fans on Sunday. He pulled one of his customary holeshots and quickly gapped a chasing Casey Stoner by almost a second in a couple of laps. But championship leader Jorge Lorenzo had other ideas, and quickly moved past Stoner as the Ducati rider struggled with front tire issues, setting off after the fleeing Pedrosa. He slowly chipped away at his fellow countryman’s lead, but it was tough going as the Honda rider was setting a blistering pace. Actually, a little too blistering—Pedrosa then crashed out in Turn Five on the 12th lap, handing a lead to Lorenzo that he steadily maintained over the chasing Stoner to eventually win by 3.517 seconds.
Behind Stoner was where most of the real race drama unfolded. Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda teammate Andrea Dovisioso seemingly had a good grip on third, with a still-healing Valentino Rossi being chased by Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies. Spies had originally been as high as third, but it took him a few laps to feel confident in his rear tire, letting the others get by. By midrace, Spies began to find his rhythm, and soon moved past Hayden and closed up on Rossi. Rossi responded by dropping his lap times by almost half a second, but Spies was keeping pace and looking threatening until a mistake braking into Turn 11 forced him to run wide with six laps to go, letting Hayden back by into fifth. Rossi’s increased pace to keep Spies at bay allowed him to catch up to Dovisioso, where he eventually passed the Honda rider in Turn 11. Dovisioso tried to retaliate in the same turn on the final lap, but made a major mistake that forced him off track and almost let Hayden get by into fourth.
Spies’ Monster Tech 3 Yamaha teammate Colin Edwards rode a solid race to seventh, while Hayden’s younger brother Roger Lee finished an impressive 11th in his cameo fill-in ride on the LCR Honda for the injured Randy de Puniet.
MotoGP USA Laguna Seca race results:
1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha
2. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati
3. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha
4. Andrea Dovisioso (ITA) Honda
5. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati
6. Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha
7. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha
8. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda
9. Mika Kallio (FIN) Ducati
10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Suzuki
11. Roger Lee Hayden (USA) Honda