INDIANAPOLIS — Dani Pedrosa claimed his second victory of the season as the Spaniard won the Indianapolis MotoGP in emphatic fashion Sunday. The Honda driver led a Spanish one-two, finishing 11 seconds ahead of compatriot Jorge Lorenzo while Italy's Andrea Dovizioso completed the podium. Australian world champion Casey Stoner, riding with a pain-killing injection due to his fractured right ankle and torn ligaments, finished fourth. It was Pedrosa' 17th career victory and puts him on 207 points in the world championship standings, 18 points behind Lorenzo. “It was a good weekend. I think the bike was working well. We were spinning all of practice, but we had a good feeling. So today for the race I was confident,” Pedrosa told reporters. “Sometimes being second is better than a victory, so today was like that,” Lorenzo said. “I started the race very confident. I was passed by Ben and Andrea (at the start), and after that I could follow Ben and Dani for a little while. But from the middle of the race it was impossible to keep the same pace.” Pedrosa started on pole but was challenged in an eventful race that saw Ben Spies take control in the opening laps before the American's hopes ended with 22 laps remaining when his engine blew forcing him to pull off the track. Pedrosa had a scare of his own when his bike wobbled with 12 laps to go and ran into the grass, but he soon recovered. “When I shifted again to first, the bike had a good kick on me and yeah, I almost lost control,” Pedrosa said. “But I kept the bike on the track. I lost one second on that lap.” Stoner fought through the pain of his injuries to finish fourth having only been declared fit to race Sunday morning. In qualifying Saturday the twice world champion was thrown off his bike and rolled across the grass. He tried to walk off the track but had to call for medical attention and was taken away on a stretcher. Race officials lost one of their most popular drivers, Kentucky's Nicky Hayden, Saturday when doctors declared him unfit to ride because of a concussion and two broken bones in his right hand. He was injured when he flew off the No. 69 bike, hit his head hard on the asphalt and wound up skidding across the track unconscious before finally stopping in the grass. Hayden isn't sure whether he'll race next week, either. Italy's Mattia Pasini and Britain's Cal Crutchlow both crashed early. They were not injured. Three other drivers — France's Randy de Puniet and Italians Michele Pirro and Danilo Patrice all retired before the midway point of the race — and nobody could contest Pedrosa's dominance. Pedrosa joins the list of Indy's multiple winners, a list that includes prominent racing names such as A.J. Foyt, Jimmy Johnson and Michael Schumacher. And he made it look easy. — Agencies
