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NEWS
Stoner takes seventh win in 2011
The Australian was the clear victor at the Indianapolis Grand Prix, winning by nearly five seconds and tightening his grip on this year's championshipAustralia’s Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) has produced an irresistible performance in the 2011 Indianapolis Grand Prix, overtaking teammate Dani Pedrosa on lap seven and then remaining unchallenged for the balance of the race to secure his seventh win of the season. American Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) was third.
Stoner has now extended his championship lead to 44pts ahead of reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) with six rounds remaining, including the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island from October 14-16.
“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,” said Stoner. “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.”
A bad start for Spies from second on the grid found the Texan down in ninth position, after his poor start was made worse when he and Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) touched heading into turn one, pushing Spies wide. The 25-year-old methodically made his way back through the field and into third position by lap 16. The pace set by Spies would have been quick enough to fight for second position, though his poor start kept him from catching Pedrosa, who crossed the line second in front of the American.
Lorenzo had seen second position in the early laps, but was overtaken by Stoner and then eventually Spies to finish in fourth position. Dovizioso tussled with Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) early in the race for fifth, until the American fell back with tire problems, leaving the Italian to chase Lorenzo.
Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) finished a lonely sixth after starting ninth on the grid. The Spaniard crossed the line nine seconds in front of American Colin Edwards on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine. Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) crossed the line in eighth, giving the French rider his best finish of the season.
Ninth spot went to Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini), who crossed the line a second and a half ahead of Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team). Rossi’s 10th place was of note in that on lap eight the Italian fell back into 17th position with apparent tyre troubles. It appeared he would be entering the pits, but kept circulating and made his way back up to finish in front of rookie Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) .
Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) had seen as high as third position in the race, until tyre trouble for the Italian saw him slowly dropping back, finally finishing in 12th. Toni Elías (LCR Honda) and Hayden completed the race finishers, with Elias ahead of the American. Hayden had pitted in earlier with troubles and rejoined the session to salvage some points, finishing 14th.
A disappointing end was had for Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar), who crashed out of eighth place in the final corner.
Queenslander Anthony West (MZ) was 26th in the Moto2 race, won by Marc Marquez (Suter) ahead of FTR teammates Pol Espargaro and Esteve Rabat.
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Written byBikesales Staff
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