Defending champ Marc Marquez (Honda) continued to chip away at the championship points lead of Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) with another win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway earlier today (Honda’s 700th GP win). The race was close, however, as Rossi’s teammate Jorge Lorenzo jumped out to the lead and held it until 3 laps from the checkered flag when Marquez passed him. Lorenzo was less than a second behind Marquez at the finish.
Rossi came from a relatively poor grid position to finish third after battling for the position with Dani Pedrosa (Honda) who finished in fourth.
Rossi’s lead in the championship over second place Lorenzo was reduced to 9 points, while third place Marquez is still 56 points back. For additional details, results and points, visit the official MotoGP site.
| Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | 25 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 41’55.371 |
| 2 | 20 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | +0.688 |
| 3 | 16 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | +5.966 |
| 4 | 13 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | +6.147 |
| 5 | 11 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | +21.528 |
| 6 | 10 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | +21.751 |
| 7 | 9 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | SPA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | +30.378 |
| 8 | 8 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | CWM LCR Honda | Honda | +31.607 |
| 9 | 7 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | +32.821 |
| 10 | 6 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Octo Pramac Racing | Ducati | +34.517 |
| 11 | 5 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | +39.010 |
| 12 | 4 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Octo Pramac Racing | Ducati | +41.815 |
| 13 | 3 | 45 | Scott REDDING | GBR | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | +50.209 |
| 14 | 2 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | +1’00.465 |
| 15 | 1 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Avintia Racing | Ducati | +1’04.147 |
| 16 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Aspar MotoGP Team | Honda | +1’05.066 | |
| 17 | 63 | Mike DI MEGLIO | FRA | Avintia Racing | Ducati | +1’06.941 | |
| 18 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | +1’13.862 | |
| 19 | 50 | Eugene LAVERTY | IRL | Aspar MotoGP Team | Honda | +1’18.706 | |
| 20 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | +1’19.730 | |
| 21 | 15 | Alex DE ANGELIS | RSM | E-Motion IodaRacing Team | ART | +1’19.882 | |
| 22 | 24 | Toni ELIAS | SPA | AB Motoracing | Honda | +1’19.934 |
Nice that Valentino is hanging tough. He rode his butt off to finish ahead of Pedrosa. But I get the feeling the momentum is with Jorge now … unless Marquez knocks him off his bike.
Went to Indy with my camper toy hauler and was camping in lot 3. My only regret was not bringing my GROM. Wow that track is HUGE. Getting from the tunnel at the south entrance to infield island down at turn 12 was a hike. They let scooters and Grom’s roam around just about anywhere. The staff was really chill. I bought a weekend pit pass and decided to go to the pits after Sunday mornings practice. I waited outside Marquez’s pit for about 20 minutes watching umbrella girls rushing to their posts. MM came out and signed my pit pass which I must say was really cool. I told him, Marc use one finger on the brake lever… LOL saw that on the Jumbo TV… I met Colin Edwards and grabbed a photo with him. I ended up on the hill at turn 9 for the race and hung out next to some crazy people that really knew how to have a good time. Also I must add that Indy is a great city to host this event. The restaurants, the bike night antics if you are into that thing, the relaxed police presence made for a good time. The only thing that would have made the weekend any better would have been getting #46 to sign the pit pass. Dang he’s got a mob over there 7/24. I hope MotoGP comes back next year.
Must have been right next to you as we were right next to the crazy people on the turn 9 hill and right in from of the temporary jumbo-tron.
re: “I ended up on the hill at turn 9 for the race and hung out next to some crazy people that really knew how to have a good time.”
sorry ’bout that, we likes our whiskey.
well guys, for those self-professed “motorcyclists” who’ve never attended a grandprix in the United States, you’re officially all out of excuses.
Q: why is that Norm G…?
A: my elderly Mum has now attended Indianapolis. 🙂
Talking to yourself now Norm?
So, those that don’t care about motorcycle competition, but just ride a motorcycle for the joy of riding are not real motorcyclists?
Q: So, those that don’t care about motorcycle competition, but just ride a motorcycle for the joy of riding are not real motorcyclists?
A: no, just the one’s who fancy commenting in MotoGP threads knowing they’ve never come off dime to support a sport they claim to love so much.
I ended up fast forwarding through most of the race, and rewinding to see the occasional pass by VR and DP. The announcers left me wanting, Ralph is generally good at motocross but was not on his game, and Kevin was being captain obvious as most racer/announcers are. I agree the european announcers have additional flair, kind of like the difference between the american and british top gear tv shows.
Anyway, hooray for honda those rat finks.
I felt like Fox Sports One had become so awful that I bit the bullet and bought the video pass directly from Dorna. It’s amazing and worth every penny. Highly, highly recommended.
I agree. Been a subscriber for three years now.
What happened to Suzuki and Ducati? A Honda and Yamaha at the front by 6 secs(!), another Honda and Yamaha in front of the pack by 15 secs(!) like every other recent year. I know Dorna is trying but this race was a snoozer. I had such great hope at the beginning of the season for S and D.
A Ducati finished 5th right behind the four best riders in the world on the four best bikes. Not too bad IMO. Crazy Joe rode a good race……I think he has a bright future.
It was a great battle between VR and DP, hardly a snoozer.
“A Ducati finished 5th right behind” How is 15 seconds right behind? I think this should be considered way behind. DP could have made a mistake, without going down of course, and still easily kept his place.
“How is 15 seconds right behind?”
Was anyone between them? If not, AI was right behind DP. Oh, and the other 17 bikes on the track were right behind AI. Geebus Cripes.
Ducati plz..Imagine getting beat by 15 seconds in a race..Can you say enternity?
“Can you say enternity?”
I can, but it’s obvious that you can’t.
Q: What happened to Suzuki and Ducati?
A: REALITY.
I was wondering the same thing. Would love to see some manufacturers competing for the front spots.
The family and I were in attendance both Saturday and Sunday. Got to see MM throw his bike down the track in a shower of sparks right in front of us on Sunday morning. I just stood there in disbelief. Funny story, a parking lot attendant at the American Legion asked us as we were heading for the entrance who number 46 was. We filled him in and he replied “I swear everyone walking in to the track has a 46 on their shirt, that guy must be pretty good”. Very telling.
Awesome! Dude didn’t know…
A great race from Bradley Smith, he’s really outperforming expectations this year. Rossi needs to step it up if he wants to keep the championship he’s leading, but we’re going to a stretch of Yamaha tracks, so he needs to keep Lorenzo in check.
Other than some insightful comments by Kevin Schwantz, I thought that the Fox Sports 1 broadcast was particularly lacking. The broadcast would have been much better if they used the same announcing team used for the European races.
I agree about using the European broadcast team.
I disagree about Schwantz, I thought he sucked.
I appreciated Kevin’s announcing. The other guys were marginal.
I think Kevin sucked too. He stumbled and stuttered the whole time. He is also terrible with pronouncing names. Plus, he is so full of himself and only has one world title.
Was there this weekend, great GP racing day and a great addition was the AMA Superbike races with Josh Hayes and Roger Hayden battles for the podium, very exciting indeed.
Great pic – the skills AND the tyres are remarkable
Excellent shot! No wonder they always are the leaders! MM has elbow touched down while Lorenzo is couple mm close. Incredible!
That photo is simply incredible. What a beautiful sport.
why wasn’t Bradley Smith given the contract for next year? Isn’t he consistently ahead of his teammate? He has impressed more this year than any of the other non-factory riders with predictable results and pretty much a lack of DNF’s.
“Rossi!”
“Rossi!”
“Rossi!”
“Rossi!”