Jorge Lorenzo capitalised on a miserable day for his closest title rivals as he took victory in the Indianapolis MotoGP race.
The Fiat Yamaha rider took his third win of 2009 with his team-mate Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa both crashing in the 28-lap race at Brickyard.
Lorenzo won by 9.5seconds to halve Rossi’s championship lead with five races left to go as the Italian failed to finish for the first time this year. The Press Association
Spain’s Dani Pedrosa, the pole winner, led the first four laps but was racing too close to the edge. As he entered the 15th turn, Pedrosa, who was nearly turning on his hip, went too low and the motorcycle slid out from underneath him and across the track. Pedrosa got up, ran to the bike and rejoined the race but finished 10th, more than 45 seconds behind Lorenzo.
Rossi, the six-time world champ from Italy, made a more costly miscalculation.
After Lorenzo passed him for the lead, Rossi tried to pass Lorenzo on lap 10. Rossi, like Pedrosa, went too low through the corner of turn two, fell off the bike and slid across the track. The Associated Press
“Before this race I was telling the press that it was almost impossible, whereas now I would say it is difficult, but not impossible,” Lorenzo told the MotoGP Web site of his title chances.
MotoGP: Indianapolis Grand Prix - Race Results
He was delighted after having himself failed to finish the last two races at Brno and Donington.
“Today the situation has changed completely and now it has happened to Valentino and Dani, unfortunately for them. However, for me, the situation is good,” Lorenzo said.
“It was difficult to keep my concentration for 20 laps, because it was a little bit boring. Bit you cannot relax when it is like that because if you think about something else you could crash. Anyway, I had some fun on the last lap and it is a very nice feeling!” CNN International
“A disappointment of course! We struggled with the settings all weekend, but we made an improvement today and I got a good start,” Rossi said. “I knew it would be between Jorge and I, but I honestly don’t know how it would have finished because Jorge was very fast.”
Rossi, seeking his seventh world championship in the premier MotoGP class, said he “ran wide onto a dirty part of the track” and lost the front of his motorcycle.
“I tried to carry on, but there was a problem with my throttle and it wasn’t possible.”
Despite his fall, Rossi retains his overall lead in the standings with 212 points, but Lorenzo reinforced his position as the only rider with any realistic chance of catching him with five races remaining. AFP
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