Indianapolis MotoGP: Marquez takes three from three in the USA

Rookie sensation Marc Marquez dominated the Indianapolis Grand Prix this afternoon to take his third win from three in the USA, winning by over four seconds from Dani Pedrosa.

Jorge Lorenzo led off the line, and was immediatly able to pull a gap of the Repsol pair of Pedrosa and Marquez, with Bradley Smith a surprise fourth.

Smith’s teammate Crutchlow was able to squeeze past and start to make moves towards the leaders as a fast lap from Pedrosa began to close in his escaping fellow Spaniard.

Smith was mugged by Bautista almost as soon as Crutchlow made his move, and settled into a scrap with the Gresini Honda rider and Stefan Bradl on the second privateer Honda.

It was seven laps in before there was a change at the front, with Marquez making his move past Pedrosa into second as Bautista made it past Crutchlow for fourth. Marquez, making the most of Pedrosa’s fast laps earlier, was immediately in touch with Lorenzo, getting right onto the tail of the world champion.

After a number of close laps, Marquez finally made his move into the lead on lap 11, making a clean move on Lorenzo before having a big moment but managing to hold his overtake.

The battle for fourth was far from over too, with Crutchlow managing to push past Bautista at the half way mark, although the pair continued to swap places throughout as they pulled away from Bradl in sixth.

A series of fastest laps allowed Marquez to pull a lead for the first time in the race, gapping Lorenzo by a second.

The rookie continued to pull out his lead, stretching the gap over the top three to three seconds, as Pedrosa dropped back from Lorenzo.

The real battles on track was for the following places, with Crutchlow and Bautista continuing to trade fourth place as a late-charging Rossi made it past Bradl into sixth behind them.

Pedrosa also managed a push in the closing laps, pulling in the gap to Lorenzo to only 0.2 seconds. Meanwhile, Rossi managed to make his way past Bautista to put Rossi under pressure for fourth.

However, it all happened on the last lap. Pedrosa was able to make the most of his charge to pass Lorenzo, taking valuable championship points. Valentino Rossi made it past Cal Crutchlow for fourth, with a late move from Bautista making contact between him and Crutchlow, but not being enough for the position. Stefan bradl bought his LCR Honda home in seventh.

There was further drama between the factory Ducatis, touching in the last corner as Nicky Hayden forced his way past Andrea Dovizioso for eighth at his home race, but foced both riders wide and allowed Bradley Smith through for the spot.

Injured Aleix Espargaro was the first CRT in 12th, while it was a mixed day for the Paul Bird team, with Michael laverty coming home in 18th as Yonny Hernandez was forced to retire.

1 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 44’52.463
2 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda +3.495
3 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha +5.704
4 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha +19.895
5 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +19.955
6 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda +20.061
7 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda +24.842
8 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +40.690
9 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati +40.701
10 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati +40.823
11 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati +59.668
12 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART +1’06.650
13 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki +1’09.462
14 71 Claudio CORTI ITA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki +1’15.207
15 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Avintia Blusens FTR +1’20.159
16 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Blusens FTR +1’25.879
17 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project Ioda-Suter +1’29.616
18 70 Michael LAVERTY GBR Paul Bird Motorsport PBM +1’36.388
19 67 Bryan STARING AUS GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda 1 Lap
DNF 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Paul Bird Motorsport ART 10 Laps
DNF 52 Lukas PESEK CZE Came IodaRacing Project Ioda-Suter 13 Laps
DNF 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART 22 Laps
DNF 79 Blake YOUNG USA Attack Performance Racing APR 27 Laps