The Repsol rider gets his seventh victory of the season and leads the championship with an advantage of 44 points over Lorenzo. Dani Pedrosa completes the 1-2 and Dovizioso is fifth
Casey Stoner achieved at the United States his seventh victory of the season —third consecutive— after dominating the race from the sixth lap, when he overtook Dani Pedrosa. The Spaniard was with him on the podium, confirming the fourth 1-2 of the season after the ones achieved in France, England and the Czech Republic. Fifth was Andrea Dovizioso, who after a race where he kept improving, crossed the finish line half a second behind the fourth placed.
Casey Stoner had never achieved a good result in Indianapolis, but this season he is showing a high level of competitiveness that allows him, after the American race, to lead the Championship with an advantage of 44 points. The Repsol rider saw Pedrosa having a fantastic start and was even overtaken by Lorenzo. The Australian recovered the second place in the third lap, although a lap later he was about to fall with no television camera registering it. The front tyre of his Honda RC212V slid in a corner, the steering was blocked and thanks to his left elbow, that connected with the asphalt, he was saved from crashing. After that he was able to catch Pedrosa and, in the sixth lap, he took the lead of the race.
From that moment on, Stoner left no chance for his rivals. Increasing his advantage tenth after tenth, the Repsol rider rode at record pace, and he broke the record in lap 20, when he set the fastest lap of the race. Behind him, Dani Pedrosa also secured the second position of the race, with a wide margin over the third, that was finally Ben Spies, more than ten seconds behind the Repsol Honda Team rider.
The race was much closer for Andrea Dovizioso, who crossed the start/finish line in sixth at the end of the first lap and fought with Nicky Hayden during the first five laps. As laps went by, the American was able to gain some advantage, but keeping a consistent pace, the Repsol rider could reduce the difference and overtake Hayden in the tenth lap. Nevertheless, in that same lap he was overtaken by Ben Spies and found himself again sixth. Riding consistently on 1 minute and 40 seconds, Dovizioso was able to catch Marco Simoncelli, passing him in lap thirteen, and lap after lap he could get closer to Jorge Lorenzo. Faster than the Yamaha rider, Dovizioso reached the finish at his wheel, but was not able to overtake him.
With very little time to rest, the Motorcycling World Championship will return to Europe next weekend for the Grand Prix of San Marino and Rivera di Rímini.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
2nd at 4.828 sec.
“We are very happy with second place today for several reasons. After yesterday’s qualifying session, we had to work hard to reduce the one second gap we had from Casey [Stoner], it wasn’t normal to be so far away from him. To finish second after the crash in Brno is a great feeling. I knew that my race pace wouldn’t be as fast as Casey’s, but the team did a very good job, helped me to feel more comfortable with the front and I was able to find a good rhythm, just 3-4 tenths slower than Casey. It was a tough race being alone, but I focused on my lap times and I made my best lap at the end, so I’m happy with my performance and the bike. To get 20 points is not so bad after the crash in Brno and I look forward to going to Misano next week to try and take another step forward”.
Andrea Dovizioso >> Audio
5th at 17.202 sec.
“I can’t be happy with today’s result because our target was the podium and gaining some points on Lorenzo, but we also have to look at the positives and I’m pleased I managed a 1’40.1 lap time, my fastest of the race on my final lap. Considering the demanding conditions of this track and the hot temperatures, this lap time shows that we were fast even at the end. We had a bad start, Nicky [Hayden] blocked me and then Ben [Spies] and I touched in turn four and I lost valuable time and positions. From that moment I tried to remain focused and lap by lap I found the pace that allowed me to recover positions. We knew that the race would be tough and it really was. It was also a strange race, from the beginning we had no rear grip and especially in the first laps I had the feeling that the front was closing a lot. However, I was able to change my mentality and adapt my riding style to the conditions in order to manage the tyres in the best way and ride consistently. We are competitive and we go to Misano, my home GP very determined and confident of a good result”.
Casey Stoner >> Audio
1st- 46:52.786
“We got an ok start and I should have been a little more aggressive in the first corner. As I entered turn two Dani [Pedrosa]hit the breaks quite hard and I just had nothing, my brakes weren’t warmed up yet and I had trouble stopping, I was lucky to get through the first lap. The race was tough, conditions were very hot and the track surface a little more slippery than practice and qualifying which made things difficult to know how much to push. At one point I closed the front and dropped the bike on my knee, I was pretty much down but managed to pick it back up and not lose too much confidence. From there we started to make our way past Dani, put in a few good lap times and pull an advantage. Under challenging track conditions everything has worked really well this weekend, the crew did a fantastic job and gave me a great bike so a huge thanks to them all!”.
