Pedrosa storms to second Indy win

Dani Pedrosa was in a league of his own as he stormed to his second win at Indianapolis, cutting Jorge Lorenzo's Championship lead to just 18 points.

With all the factory bikes barring Lorenzo starting on the hard rear Bridgestone tyres, the 2012 Indianapolis MotoGP got underway with Pedrosa leading off the line only to be taken by Ben Spies through the second corner.

The duo quickly pulled away from the chasing pack with Pedrosa up into first at the start of lap 4 when he powered down the straight and took the American into the first corner. But it was game over for Spies one lap later when his Yamaha's engine expired. He quickly moved over to the side of the track to avoid leaving any oil on the racing line down the main straight.

Spies' demises left it to Lorenzo to battle Pedrosa for the victory but the Spaniard was not quite up for the challenge despite having what should have been the quicker tyre option, at least in the first half of the race.

Meanwhile, a five-way tussle for the final podium position developed between Andrea Dovizioso, Casey Stoner, who was riding with a special boot to protect his injured right ankle, Stefan Bradl, Alvaro Bautista and Cal Crutchlow. Valentino Rossi was a distant eighth doing all he could to hold off the lead CRT of Aleix Espargaro.

Halfway through the 28-lap race Pedrosa was holding a lead of 3.7s over Lorenzo who in turn was 10.5s up on Stoner, who was leading the tussle for third which no longer included Crutchlow, who had retired from the race.

Pushing hard, Pedrosa extended his lead to over five seconds only to have two big consecutive moments that cost him 1.2s. The Spaniard, though, held on and held his nerve racing towards his second Indianapolis MotoGP victory while Lorenzo had no answer.

As the laps counted down the leading duo appeared untouchable while Stoner was doing all he could with his injured ankle to keep hold of the final podium position. However, with seven to go Dovizioso took third off the Aussie. Stoner attempted to fight back but wasn't able to.

Pedrosa won the grand prix 10s ahead of Lorenzo who was caught in backmarker traffic on the final two laps with Dovizioso third. Stoner put in a valiant effort to finish fourth.

Yonny Hernandez won the CRT battle on the day after a thrilling tussle with Esparagaro, who leads the CRT Championship.

RESULTS

1 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team 46'39.631
2 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing +10.823
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Monster Yamaha Tech 3a +17.310
4 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team +19.803
5 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini +22.556
6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP +30.072
7 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team +57.614
8 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing +1'08.442
9 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Avintia Blusens +1'11.106
10 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar +1'14.079
11 Toni ELIAS SPA Pramac Racing Team +1'26.305
12 Ivan SILVA SPA Avintia Blusens +1'40.274
13 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1 Lap
14 James ELLISON GBR Paul Bird Motorsport 1 Lap
15 Steve RAPP USA Attack Performance 1 Lap
16 Aaron YATES USA GPTech 1 Lap

Not Classified
Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 19 Laps
Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar 20 Laps
Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing 22 Laps
Michele PIRRO ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 27 Laps
Mattia PASINI ITA Speed Master 0 Lap
Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project Ioda 0 Lap

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