MotoGP Round 11 – Dani Pedrosa Reigns Supreme at Indianapolis
Dani Pedrosa never scored more than 2 wins in a season, but it all changed when he crossed the finish line first to take his 3rd win of the season. Pedrosa made a great start off the line from the 2nd row of the grid, getting ahead of championship rival Jorge Lorenzo into the first turn.
On the 2nd lap, Pedrosa was already running in 2nd place behind pole sitter Ben Spies. Although Spies had a 2.6 seconds gap to the Repsol Honda rider, it wasn’t enough as Pedrosa upped the pace registering fastest lap after fastest lap. Spies started to struggle for grip and sliding around as his soft compound tyre gave way, and Pedrosa’s harder tyre compound was starting to come into play. Inevitably, Pedrosa closed the gap and used the Repsol Honda’s engine superiority on the long straight to overtake Spies for 1st place.
Meanwhile, the battle for 3rd place was taking place behind the leaders between Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso. In the end, it was the Fiat Yamaha rider that took the last place on the podium, picking up more valuable points for the championship as Dovozioso slipped further behind to 5th as he lost out to another Fiat Yamaha rider, Valentino Rossi.
Nicky Hayden failed to capitalise on his front row start after he only managed to finish the race in 6th place. Teammate Casey Stoner lost the front end of his bike on lap 8 in a race to forget for Ducati.
Four rookies managed to score points as San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli, Rizla Suzuki rider Alvaro Bautista, Pramac Racing rider Aleix Espargaro and Paginas Amarillas Aspar rider Hector Barbera completed the top 10 ten finishes.
Photo : Fiat Yamaha, Rizla Suzuki, motogp.com
