Dani Pedrosa wins eventful Indianapolis MotoGP race

Monday 20th August, 2012 7:17am
Author: SpeedCafe ©

Dani Pedrosa

Dani Pedrosa has recorded a dominant victory at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix in an eventful race.

The Repsol Honda Team rider scored his second win for the year, racing him back into title contention.

Pedrosa got the holeshot, but it was Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies who led the opening laps after overtaking the Spaniard early on.

Pedrosa and Spies provided an entertaining battle at the front in the early stages, but Spies’ challenge ended on lap 22 when his engine blew up.

The only threat for Pedrosa came with 12 laps to go when he endured a big wobble. He managed to stop himself running onto the grass and soon rediscovered his rhythm to race on to a big win.

Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, the only prototype rider to opt for the soft option rear tyre, had a less than ideal start, but was soon up into third, forcing his way past Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso.

Third became second when Spies dropped out, and he remained in that position until the end. The result retains his title lead, but the lead is now just 18 points ahead of Pedrosa.

Dovizioso took third having run behind Honda’s injured star Casey Stoner for much of the race. Stoner, riding with a pain killing injection due to his fractured right ankle with torn ligaments, was in remarkable form, considering his injuries, but was no match for his race-winning team-mate.

Stoner and Dovizioso swapped positions on a number of occasions, with Stoner eventually losing his podium place with a handful of laps remaining.

Alvaro Bautista came in fifth, ahead of Stefan Bradl, Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi and Cardion AB Racing’s Karel Abraham.

The top CRT rider was Avintia Blusens’ Yonny Hernandez in ninth, ahead of Randy de Puniet’s team-mate Aleix Espargaró.

Results, Indianapolis MotoGP

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	151.8	46’39.631
2	20	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	151.2	+10.823
3	16	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	150.9	+17.310
4	13	1	Casey STONER	AUS	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	150.7	+19.803
5	11	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	150.6	+22.556
6	10	6	Stefan BRADL	GER	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	150.2	+30.072
7	9	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	148.7	+57.614
8	8	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	Ducati	148.2	+1’08.442
9	7	68	Yonny HERNANDEZ	COL	Avintia Blusens	BQR	148.0	+1’11.106
10	6	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	147.9	+1’14.079
11	5	24	Toni ELIAS	SPA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	147.3	+1’26.305
12	4	22	Ivan SILVA	SPA	Avintia Blusens	BQR	146.5	+1’40.274
13	3	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	NGM Mobile Forward Racing	Suter	146.0	1 Lap
14	2	15	Steve RAPP	USA	Attack Performance	APR	145.3	1 Lap
15	1	77	James ELLISON	GBR	Paul Bird Motorsport	ART	145.5	1 Lap
16		20	Aaron YATES	USA	GPTech	BCL	142.5	1 Lap
Not Classified
		35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	149.7	19 Laps
		14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	147.0	20 Laps
		11	Ben SPIES	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	150.7	22 Laps
		51	Michele PIRRO	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	FTR	135.6	27 Laps
		54	Mattia PASINI	ITA	Speed Master	ART		0 Lap
		9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Came IodaRacing Project	Ioda		0 Lap

World standings

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Jorge LORENZO	Yamaha	SPA	225
2	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	SPA	207
3	Casey STONER	Honda	AUS	186
4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Yamaha	ITA	137
5	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Yamaha	GBR	106
6	Stefan BRADL	Honda	GER	94
7	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Honda	SPA	92
8	Valentino ROSSI	Ducati	ITA	91
9	Nicky HAYDEN	Ducati	USA	84
10	Ben SPIES	Yamaha	USA	66
11	Hector BARBERA	Ducati	SPA	60
12	Aleix ESPARGARO	ART	SPA	39
13	Randy DE PUNIET	ART	FRA	33
14	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	CZE	18
15	Yonny HERNANDEZ	BQR	COL	17
16	Michele PIRRO	FTR	ITA	16
17	Colin EDWARDS	Suter	USA	14
18	Mattia PASINI	ART	ITA	13
19	James ELLISON	ART	GBR	13
20	Ivan SILVA	BQR	SPA	11
21	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ioda	ITA	9
22	Toni ELIAS	Ducati	SPA	5
23	Steve RAPP	APR	USA	2