Dani Pedrosi wins Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP
August 29, 2010
A Spaniard won the Red Bull Indianapolis GP today at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but not the one who was favored.
Dani Pedrosa passed pole sitter Ben Spies on the seventh of 28 laps and led the rest of the way for his first victory of the 2010 MotoGP season.
His countryman, defending Indy champion Jorge Lorenzo — the runaway season points leader who had won seven of the season’s first 10 races — wound up third behind Spies.
Pedrosa’s 11th career win was his third this season. He took the checkered flag on his Repsol Honda 3.575 seconds ahead of Spies, whose runner-up finish on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bike is the best of the American’s rookie season. Lorenzo was 6.812 seconds behind the winner on his Fiat Yamaha.
Italian Valentino Rossi, who counts the inaugural Indy race in 2008 among his record 78 career wins, wound up fourth on a Fiat Yamaha, followed by Italy’s Andrea Dovizioso for Repsol Honda and American Nicky Hayden for Ducati.
Pedrosa, who started fifth in the 17-bike field, gained 10 points in the championship and now trails Lorenzo by 68 with six races to go.
Australian Casey Stoner, the 2007 MotoGP champion who struggled with the 2.6-mile track surface all weekend, crashed out of the race and wound up 16th.
The third American in the field, Colin Edwards, had mechanical problems early and placed 15th.
The day's biggest race was overshadowed by news that 13-year-old Peter Lenz had died after crashing and being run over by another motorcycle in the first race of the day.
LINK:
Dani Pedrosi wins Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star
