MotoGP News
Date: 19/August/2012
Honda’s Dani Pedrosa romped to his second MotoGP victory of the season at Indianapolis on Sunday, trimming Jorge Lorenzo’s points lead in the process.
Pedrosa’s victory was effectively decided when home hero Ben Spies suffered a huge engine failure whilst in a close second place.
That promoted Yamaha team-mate Lorenzo to the runner-up spot, but the Spaniard could do nothing to threaten Pedrosa, who won by over 10 seconds.
Pedrosa said: “At the beginning, the race was tough because the pace was very high. So I had to keep the concentration. I was leading and when I saw the oil left on the track by Ben, I and didn’t know where to go for a few laps.
“I also made a mistake in Turn 2 but I was able to stay on two wheels and keep the rhythm to the end, where I think Jorge struggled a little with the soft rear tyre. We managed to take our second win of the season and every point is important.”
Spies, riding with an injured shoulder after a big qualifying crash, had led the early laps and felt he had a real chance of breaking his 2012 victory drought.
Spies said: “When Dani passed me I could see he was using the rear tyre more than I was so the plan was to let him get a maximum three seconds ahead and start reeling him back in at the end.
“But as soon as he passed me the bike started to slow down, I wasn’t sure what was happening then all of a sudden it blew up so I tried to get off the line as quickly as possible. I’m disappointed, I think we definitely had second place and possibly the win.”
The engine failure marked the latest race day mishap for Spies, who won his first MotoGP race last season but is yet to finish higher than fourth in 2012.
The Texan caught Yamaha by surprise last month when he announced that he will leave the team at the end of the season for undisclosed reasons.
Looking back on his miserable season, Spies highlighted one possible motive when he revealed a comment made by somebody ‘high up’ at Yamaha.
Spies said: “At Mugello, we had food poisoning. I tried everything I could, but it was a bad result. I was told by somebody at Yamaha that if I'm not going to ride a hundred percent at Laguna [Seca], don't show up.
"I came to Laguna, and I tried the best I could. The bike had a malfunction. Then we came here with a hundred percent and did the best we could, and we had another mechanical with the bike.
“I've given my hundred percent. So to be told what I was told after Mugello and the way it was, and then to give the effort I've given the last two weekends, I just don't think it's been too fair."
Spies will be replaced by Valentino Rossi next year.
Spies wasn’t the only person riding hurt on Sunday. Two other MotoGP factory riders - world champion Casey Stoner and Ducati’s Nicky Hayden - had suffered almost identical qualifying falls at the same Turn 13 area.
Hayden was ruled out of the race after being briefly knocked out, but Stoner fought the pain of ankle fractures and ligament damage to claim fourth place.
Stoner said: “At the end of the race it was almost impossible to maintain the pace. The painkillers I took to dull the pain gradually wore off and I simply had no energy left. It was frustrating to give up third position to Andrea Dovizioso but we did everything we could and at least I was able to ride and take some points.”
Lorenzo now holds an 18-point lead over Pedrosa and 39-point lead over Stoner heading into this weekend’s Brno round in the Czech Republic.
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