That a Spaniard would likely win today’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix MotoGP headliner was never in serious doubt after the start, but the early surprise was that it might not be pole-starter Jorge Lorenzo, but last year’s winner Dani Pedrosa, who rocketed into the lead from the third spot on the grid. The Repsol Honda rider built an early advantage and looked set to pull one of his signature start-to-finish romps, when he lost traction on the entry to Turn 5 on the twelfth of thirty-two laps and low-sided out of the race. At that point, his fellow countryman (who had already begun shrinking the gap) took over the point and sped to his sixth victory of the year, with 3.517 seconds to spare over runner-up finisher Casey Stoner. In the nine races run so far this season (out of eighteen), the Fiat Yamaha rider has never finished lower than second.

“I made a good start, but suddenly they overtook me so quickly, by the outside,” Lorenzo said. “I didn’t know why, but I found myself in fourth position…. Dani was braking so hard and pushing so much, and I knew if I kept pushing him, he could make a mistake. In the end, he made it, and it was much easier to win.”

Stoner had done his best to make a race out of it, chasing first Pedrosa and then (after running wide in Turn 4 early on and being passed) Lorenzo, but the Ducati rider never seriously challenged for the lead. He ultimately finished a lonely second, nearly ten seconds of Valentino Rossi. “Everything felt pretty good,” said Stoner, who added that he had lost the front on four or five different occasions. “At that time, it was time to gather myself up and ride to the finish.”

Rossi overcame the pain of his still-injured right leg (broken seven weeks and a day previous, at Mugello) to pass Andrea Dovizioso late in the race for the final podium position. “It’s great for me, and it’s very important to be back on the podium in a short time,” Rossi said. “After Sachasenring [last week], we said we wanted to try for the podium at Laguna, but it was more difficult than we expected…. Dovioso was faster than me, but  I tried my best to ride at my maximum without making any mistakes. This result is very important to me.”

Prior to his late surge, the popular Italian had appeared at risk of being overtaken by Ben Spies and Nicky Hayden, but the battle between the two Americans kept them from getting close enough for a pass attempt. Hayden (who won here in 2005 and ‘06) eventually secured fifth behind Dovizioso, after Spies ran wide in a turn late in the race. The other full-time American, Colin Edwards, finished a lonely seventh behind Spies, whereas Roger Hayden was eleventh, ahead of fellow substitute rider Alex de Angelis (the last finisher). In addition to Pedrosa, riders who failed to finish were Alvaro Bautista, Marco Simoncelli, and Aleix Espargaro.

With Pedrosa crashing out, Lorenzo (who performed an especially elaborate version of his post-race astronaut skit at the top of the Corkscrew, complete with silver space suit) now has an advantage of seventy-two points–nearly three races–over the Repsol Honda rider, 210-138.

Results

1. Jorge Lorenzo (Yam)

2. Casey Stoner (Duc)

3. Valentino Rossi (Yam)

4. Andrea Dovizioso (Hon)

5. Nicky Hayden (Duc)

6. Ben Spies (Yam)

7. Colin Edwards (Yam)

8. Marco Melandri (Hon)

9. Mika Kallio (Duc)

10. Loris Capirossi (Suz)

11. Roger Hayden (Hon)

12. Alex de Angelis (Hon)

Thanks to Chris Jonnum and Roadracerx.com