Casey Stoner romped to his third straight victory in the MotoGP event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, passing fast-starting Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa on the seventh lap to pull away to an uncontested win. Pedrosa rode on to a lonely second place more than four seconds back, with Yamaha’s Ben Spies putting on an impressive charge through the field after a horrible start from his front row starting position saw him swallowed up by the pack in the first few turns, shuffling the Texan back to ninth place at the end of the first lap. Spies’ teammate Jorge Lorenzo finished fourth after running second early on, with a deteriorating front tire forcing him to fall back.
Casey Stoner completely dominated the Indianapolis MotoGP race, taking the lead on the seventh lap and never looking back.
Stoner’s pace up front was such that he quickly pulled a three-second gap on Pedrosa, and he soon found it hard to stay focused with such a big lead. “I was trying not to look at my lap counter, I was just going round and round and trying to make sure the gap stayed right because I knew this race was going to be hard,” revealed Stoner. “We started off the race pretty average, we got a good start but going into turn two I didn’t have my brakes hot enough and almost tagged the back of Dani so I ran wide and Jorge came past me. I knew this track was going to be hard to overtake on so I really didn’t want to lose any spots. From there I was just trying to get past Jorge but he was riding really well, covering his lines well and there wasn’t many opportunities. But once I got past him we were able to start chasing down Dani and start turning the lap times that I knew we could.
“We were struggling again, the last four or five laps I was starting to get tired, it was difficult to keep my concentration up, I had to pick my pace up just to get my concentration levels back to stay focused until the end. The whole weekend’s gone pretty well for us, the track’s been very difficult to ride and very difficult to understand. But the team managed to get the bike sorted and we managed to ride this track pretty well this weekend.”
Dani Pedrosa tried to pull...
Dani Pedrosa tried to pull off another one of his quick getaway wins, but was chased down and passed by teammate Stoner. Pedrosa finished second.
Pedrosa was pleased to be on the podium after a rather subpar practice and qualifying. After getting another one of his rocket-like starts that saw him take the lead from the second row by the third corner, the Spaniard looked like he might pull away and win his second consecutive Red Bull Indianapolis GP, but Stoner had other plans. “After yesterday in qualifying we really have to work a lot,” admitted Pedrosa. “I don’t know, Casey was very fast and I wasn’t very fast yesterday. I knew for the race pace I wasn’t quite there, so I try to do my best race. I started well and did a good first couple of laps, and then Casey came by and then he started to pull away. But I kept focused on my rhythm and I was doing quite decent laps so happy with the performance the bike was working well the whole race so thanks to the team for that. We did a good improvement from yesterday, especially keeping the tires safe; if you push too hard, the front start to [push] a lot, I wanted to keep the tires safe for the end of the race. It’s been a long time since I had a really good start, and I was happy to get a good start because this track is quite tight. And then I saw that Ben had some problems in the first corner so it’s always fun to take the lead and have a clear track ahead.”
Ben Spies looked like he might...
Ben Spies looked like he might be able to give Stoner a run for his money, but a poor start that shuffled him back to ninth place on the first lap created a mountain to climb. With a major effort he finished third.
Speaking of Spies, the Texan looked to be in with a good chance at giving Stoner a run for his money, but got himself stuck in a deep hole with five corners of the race run. A slow jump off the line saw Spies end up fifth into the first turn from his second spot on the grid, and when the pack got bunched up in turns 2, 3, and 4, some further shuffling resulted in Spies running into the back of Andrea Dovisioso, forcing him to stand his bike up and let another handful of bikes get by. At the end of the first lap, Spies was in ninth place with a mountain to climb.
“It was tough race for sure,” admitted Spies. “Didn’t make the greatest start, but then when me and Dovi made contact, it made my race pretty miserable. But in the end, we made some passes and came from a long way back to get a great result and I’m happy with how the race went.
“There’s always ‘would’ve/should’ve/could’ve’ but that’s how it goes. We just kind of had to reset the brain after the first five turns and try to stay focused on picking people off. We had to make some creative passes out there because it was tough getting it done on the straightaway. We did what we could and we got a third place in front of the home crowd. So I’m happy and now we fly across the pond and do it again next weekend, and hopefully take some of this confidence and do well at Misano.
“When I made the pass on Jorge, I tried to nail a couple of really hard laps just to try and get a gap. And once we got two seconds on him, we tried to stay in a rhythm because we knew Dani was six and half seconds or so ahead of me. So with 10 laps or so left, there was too much to make up, so there was no way unless he made a big mistake. I could see he was quite comfortable so I just made sure we had a gap to fourth because we had to push the tires pretty hard in a few areas to make some of those passes early on. It was actually quite difficult the last five laps, so we just made sure we had a gap maintained for third, but there was no way to catch second.”
Jorge Lorenzo suffered from...
Jorge Lorenzo suffered from front tire wear problems that forced him to settle for fourth.
“To be honest, I expected a worse race than I had because after warm-up with my best setup, I have so many problems with the front tire after four laps. But then in the race I have a lot of problems, but at least the performance of the front tire permits me to finish the race in fourth position. It’s not the best placing we can get, but at least we have some points, we don’t lose so many points from Casey, and Dovisioso is farther, no?”
Lorenzo was one of many riders who suffered from excessive tire wear problems caused by the new track surface at Indianapolis. “Ben is always fast here, but especially this year. He didn’t have the graining problem with his front tire, he was one of the riders who didn’t have this problem. Me with the same bike, I always have this graining problems after a few laps, we try everything and anything to improve the situation.”
Colin Edwards finished seventh...
Colin Edwards finished seventh at Indy after a race-long battle with Rizla Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista.
“I got tired of looking at that Suzuki,” said Colin Edwards about his race-long battle with Rizla Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista, which ultimately ended up with Bautista getting sixth and Edwards seventh. “We qualified ahead of Bautista, I actually got a great start, I thought I’d nailed it. Next thing I know, I got a Suzuki come by me, a Ducati come by me…I mean, all I could do was try to ‘Fred Flintstone’ my a** a little faster (Edwards refers to “The Flintstones” animated series where a prehistoric population used their feet to propel their automobiles), but I just don’t have the power off the start. I get right behind him and come onto the front straight, and he’d pull 3/10ths down the straight on me. I’d have to work my a** off all the way around the track, it was just a big accordion effect. As soon as he would pass somebody and get a gap, then I’d pass Simoncelli or whoever. I could do mid-40s, but once I was stuck behind him…I don’t know, I’m just frustrated really. We need some more power. But at the end of the day, we got some points. The best I could have done is one position better, but anyway, let’s go to the next race.”
Valentino Rossi suffered an...
Valentino Rossi suffered an absolutely horrendous weekend, with tire traction and transmission problems wrecking any chance of making progress with his Ducati.
Rossi tried to find a silver lining in what was a very difficult weekend for the eight-time world champion, with the Doctor running wide or even off track several times during the race that was caused by problems with the new seamless shift transmission that is similar in concept to the new Honda gearbox. “Eh, well…we did some good performance that give to us a little bit of good feeling, but unfortunately the race was very bad. The bike was so difficult to ride, front and rear I don’t have any grip, it would push the front under acceleration, then always spin (the rear) around. Then unfortunately after some lap, I start to have a problem with the gearbox, when I shift down it remain in neutral, so I make two or three mistake for this reason in the first corner. I want to stop seriously, but I try to not give up to arrive at the end, but I remain in neutral another two or three times, but at the end I take some points, but still a very bad result.”
Nicky Hayden had an even worse...
Nicky Hayden had an even worse weekend than his teammate, with front tire issues forcing him into the pits during the race that dropped him into last at the finish.
“It was probably my best start of the year, and definitely the best first few laps I’ve had in the dry all year by a long way,” said Rossi’s teammate Nicky Hayden, who managed to run with the leaders early before eventually having to pull into the pits to have his front tire checked—it was worn down to the cords before getting back into the race to eventually finish at the back of order. “It’s frustrating. Yesterday in qualifying with the hard front, I just destroyed it after a couple of laps. Actually the soft tire lasted longer; we went with the soft tire to hopefully get some grip and hope it wouldn’t come apart so quick. It lasted for a few laps, in the end it was probably a bad decision obviously because I (used up) all the rubber. We were pushing the front all weekend; when you push the front here with so many left turns, eventually trying to do mid-40s with the front group, it just destroyed (the front tire). It wasn’t even safe; it was out of balance and stuff. Certainly frustrating for me and the team; the guys are working really hard and I feel like we deserve a lot more than this, especially at home. To have to pull in like that was embarrassing, so it’ll be a long drive home.”
MotoGP Indianapolis race results:
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Honda
2. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda
3. Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha
4. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha
5. Andrea Dovisioso (ITA) Honda
6. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Suzuki
7. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha
8. Randy De Puniet (FRA) Ducati
9. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Honda
10. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Ducati
11. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Yamaha
12. Marco Simoncelli (ITA) Honda
13. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda
14. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati
DNF Hector Barbera (SPA) Ducati
DNF Karel Abraham (CZE) Ducati
DNF Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati