Casey Stoner continued his march towards the 2011 MotoGP championship as the Repsol Honda rider took his seventh victory of the season at Indianapolis today. The Australian, who battled a large rodent and a slippery new section of track earlier in the weekend, qualified on pole and then completed the 28 lap main event 4.828 seconds ahead of last year’s Indy winner Dani Pedrosa. American Ben Spies, was another 5.775 seconds back in third, while reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo placed a distant fourth.
Pedrosa led for the first few laps off the top of the race and then Stoner took over and walked away with the rest, posting a record Brickyard race lap in the process. This was Stoner’s third consecutive race win and he now sits 44 points ahead of Lorenzo in the overall standings.
“It couldn’t have gone much better,” said Stoner.
“I made a few mistakes in the first and second corner, Jorge came past and it was really difficult to find a place to overtake. Conditions were hard so it was about staying consistent and focused.”
The Brickyard’s sandpaper-like surface wreaked havoc with many rider’s front tires. Karel Abraham and Loris Capirossi retired their Ducatis early because of excessive wear and Lorenzo’s front tire problems forced him to relinquish his chase of the two Honda front men and even allow his team-mate Spies — who’d moved up from ninth after a terrible start from the front row — to pass him and take the final podium spot with 11 laps remaining. Nicky Hayden pitted with three laps to go to see whether there was still rubber on his front rim and then rejoined the race to finish last and salvage a couple of championship points.
The next race takes place September 4th at Misano in San Marino.
2011 Indianapolis MotoGP Results
1. Casey Stoner AUS Repsol Honda 46m 52.786s
2. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda 46m 57.614s
3. Ben Spies USA Yamaha Factory Racing 47m3.389s
4. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing 47m 9.362s
5. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda 47m 9.988s
6. Alvaro Bautista ESP Rizla Suzuki 47m 23.233s
7. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 47m 32.476s
8. Randy de Puniet FRA Pramac Racing 47m 46.202s
9. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 47m 46.576s
10. Valentino Rossi ITA Ducati Marlboro 47m 48.131s
11. Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 47m 49.970s
12. Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 47m 52.927s
13. Toni Elias ESP LCR Honda 47m 54.955s
14. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro 47m 38.936s
DNF
Hector Barbera ESP Mapfre Aspar
Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing
Loris Capirossi ITA Pramac Racing
2011 MotoGP Championship Standings
1 Casey Stoner Repsol Honda Team 243
2 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing 199
3 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 174
4 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 130
5 Ben Spies Yamaha Factory Racing 125
6 Valentino Rossi Ducati Marlboro Team 124
7 Nicky Hayden Ducati Marlboro Team 105
8 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech 3 84
9 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 80
10 Hiroshi Aoyama San Carlo Honda Gresini 77
11 Héctor Barberá Mapfre Aspar Team 62
12 Álvaro Bautista Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 49
13 Toni Elías LCR Honda MotoGP 46
= Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing 46
15 Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech 3 39
16 Loris Capirossi Pramac Racing Team 29
17 Randy de Puniet Pramac Racing Team 27
18 John Hopkins Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 6
19 Kousuke Akiyoshi San Carlo Honda Gresini 3
