Stoner dominates at the Brickyard

Stoner started the weekend off in the best possible way bywinning pole position, setting a new lap record of 1'38.850 in the process. For the race start, Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) got the jump, securing the holeshot ahead of Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) and Stoner. Lorenzo's team mate, Ben Spies, had qualified second the grid, but was swamped at the start, losing more places when he touched Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) on the opening lap and ran wide, dropping to ninth. The poor start meant Spies was playing catch-up for the rest of the race.

At the front of the pack, Stoner overtook Lorenzo on lap two, then made the pass on Pedrosa five laps later. For each lap thereafter, Stoner built his lead, finishing 4.828 seconds clear of Pedrosa at the chequered flag. Behind the Spaniard, Spies was making a charge, passing Lorenzo on lap 17. The pace set by Spies would have been quick enough to fight for second position, but his poor start kept him from catching Pedrosa. The podium finish moved the Texan to fifth in the Championship, just five points behind Pedrosa.

Lorenzo managed to finish in fourth position, ahead of Dovizioso, who tussled with Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) early in the race for fifth, until the American fell back with tyre problems. Hayden pitted, but rejoined the race to try and recoup some points, eventually finishing last, two laps down on the leaders. Alvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) finished a lonely sixth after starting ninth on the grid. The result was Bautista's best dry race result this season. Behind him, Colin Edwards on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine claimed seventh ahead of Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing), the Frenchman recording his best finish of the season. Ninth spot went to Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini), with Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) rounding out the top ten.

Rossi's tenth place was noteworthy in that on lap eight the Italian fell back as far as 17th position with suspected tyre troubles. It appeared Rossi would be be following his team mate into the pits, but he kept circulating and made his way back up to finish tenth.

Stoner's victory, his seventh of the season, was the Aussie's first ever podium result at Indianapolis. The result puts Stoner 44 points ahead of Lorenzo in the World Championship standings with six rounds, including the Australian MotoGP, still to run.

Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix
Race Classification
1. Casey STONER
2. Dani PEDROSA
3. Ben SPIES
4. Jorge LORENZO
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO
6. Alvaro BAUTISTA
7. Colin EDWARDS
8. Randy DE PUNIET
9. Hiroshi AOYAMA
10. Valentino ROSSI

Championship classification - after 12 of 18 rounds
1. STONER - 243
2. LORENZO - 199
3. DOVIZIOSO - 174
4. PEDROSA - 130
5. SPIES - 125

Selected Ducati images: Mirco Lazzari, copyright Getty Images