Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa...
Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa took a dominant win at the 2010 Red Bull Indianapolis GP.
It was almost a fairy tale home GP for Ben Spies at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP, as the Texan pulled the holeshot from pole position, and actually started to build a slight lead in the opening laps while the pack sorted itself out behind him. Unfortunately, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa had other plans, working his way from the second row to fourth on the first lap, then methodically picking off the riders in front and pulling away to a time-managed 3.5-second win.
First it was Repsol Honda Andrea Dovisioso giving chase to the fleeing Spies, but his teammate Dani Pedrosa quickly made a move on the second lap to get past and start chasing down the fleeing American. Slowly but surely Pedrosa began to make up ground, with a slight mistake by Spies in turn 10 allowing the Honda rider to pull up in his draft and blow past into Turn One to begin lap seven. Pedrosa then began a run of fast laps to quickly build a lead that soon ballooned to 4.2 seconds by lap 15.
Monster Tech 3 Yamaha's Ben...
Monster Tech 3 Yamaha's Ben Spies almost pulled off the upset of the season at the 2010 Red Bull Indianapolis GP, but came up one placing short.
“It was big,” said Spies about the runner-up finish at his home race. “We did a good race, it wasn’t perfect, but with yesterday gettin’ a good start (pole position), today, led the race for a few laps. Didn’t make too many mistakes, but just wasn’t fast enough. Dani came by, and I just tried to stay where I was comfortable; seemed like every couple laps I was seeing new crash marks on the ground, so I knew it was getting greasy. It was definitely tricky conditions; it wasn’t just the heat, it was the way the track was. I saw that I had 2.5-3 seconds (on Lorenzo) the whole race, so I just tried to stay consistent. Congratulations to Dani, he rode good, and so did Jorge. I’ve got to thank the Monster Tech 3 guys for helping putting it up on the podium in front of the American crowd.”
Ducati Marlboro teammates Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner waged their own private battle for fifth that quickly went downhill for Hayden after his left kneepuck came off on the third lap. "I still can't believe what happened," said a disappointed Hayden. "I was being careful over the first few laps because in that heat, the track was very greasy. I lost the front slightly on the third lap and caught my left knee on a drain cover on one of the kerbs, right where the knee slider attaches to the velcro. There are so many left-hand corners here...from that point on, I had to take it really steady, I couldn't push anywhere and finished up with a huge hole in my leathers. I am incredibly disappointed because we had the pace to put in a performance today."
However, the race when downhill for Stoner even quicker, as the Australian crashed out of the race on the 11th lap. The handicapped Hayden was soon passed by Valentino Rossi, who began a tussle with Dovisioso and Jorge Lorenzo. Lorenzo managed get past Dovisioso and pull a two-second gap, while Rossi took a bit longer to work his way past his fellow Italian for fourth. Lorenzo tried to close the gap on Spies, but the Texan held fast and kept the gap at three seconds until the end, with Pedrosa doing likewise with Spies once he’d built up a four-second lead. Hayden ran a lonely race for sixth some 15 seconds behind Dovisioso, while Edwards pulled into the pits twice with a mechanical problem, with the second time a permanent stop.
MotoGP Indianapolis USA race results:
1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda
2. Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha
3. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha
4. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha
5. Andrea Dovisioso (ITA) Honda
6. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati
7. Marco Simoncelli (ITA) Honda
8. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Suzuki
9. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Ducati
10. Hector Barbera (SPA) Ducati
DNF: Colin Edwards (USA) Honda