It was mission accomplished for rookie sensation Ben Spies in Indianapolis yesterday after he claimed his career-best MotoGP result on home soil.

The 26-year-old had vowed to better his brilliant debut podium when he finished third at Silverstone in June. And he didn’t disappoint a crowd of 62,700 home fans after starting from pole position for the first time in his career. The reigning World Superbike champion made a lightning start and sped away from the field on board the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 machine.

But he was unable to prevent Dani Pedrosa from seizing the lead on lap seven. And despite dogged resistance in baking hot conditions, Spies had no answer to the Spaniard’s decisive breakaway. Spies at least could ride to a relatively comfortable second spot with his pace too hot for world championship favorite Jorge Lorenzo.

Spies easily finished top Yamaha rider for the first time in his career and he said: “I can’t complain with second. We came here and did better than I thought we were going to do. We got the pole position for the first time and got out and had a good start in the race and led some laps. I didn't set the world on fire, but we had a good pace. It just wasn't fast enough when Dani came by. His bike was working well and he had good grip. We had a good set-up too but it just wasn't fast enough. And I tried as hard as I could and didn't make too many mistakes. I saw that we had a gap to third and I just tried to manage it and ride as hard as I could. It was really tricky, and I saw a lot of crash marks out there and I knew some people were hitting the ground, and it was quite easy to make a mistake. But in the end we had to ride 100% the whole time with only a three-second gap. I'm happy for the fans that are here to get a second in the American Grand Prix for the first season. We tried as hard as we could. We didn't win but to get on the podium, I'm happy with that.”

Spies had opted to run the softer compound Bridgestone rear tire despite track temperatures rocketing to 56 degrees. Pedrosa, meanwhile, was running the harder option on his factory Honda RC212V and Spies said: “We kind of went for glory. I couldn't be quick enough on the hard tire and couldn't quite do some of the things I wanted to do with the bike to make the lap time. The soft tire we knew was going to go down at the end but we were hoping to be in a position where we could manage that at the end. Fortunately we got a good start. I was able to go early on and go good and then just manage it at the end of the race and it proved to be a good choice. I was on the fence about it, I believed in a couple other people and we went with it. So it worked out today.”

Spies jumped ahead of compatriot Nicky Hayden in the overall standings to sixth place after the factory Ducati rider could only finish sixth. Spies is now only 16 points behind Andrea Dovizioso in third position.

“To be doing what we're doing, I’m not looking at being the top American or anything like that,” he added. “I didn't think it would be going this well. If you had told me we would have had one podium at the end of the first season, I would have been happy with that and took my money. But we’ve got two. I think the team and me and everybody is doing a good job.”

Spies said news of his move to join Yamaha’s factory squad in 2011 finally being made public on Friday had helped his state of mind. He’s faced a barrage of questions for weeks with the possibility of replacing Ducati-bound Valentino Rossi.

“To be in MotoGP at all is a huge thing and then to know there's only a couple people that can ride for a factory team and that you're one of them, that's big,” he continued. “And I think that kind of helped a lot how the weekend went. The confidence that was taken from that just transformed into Saturday's result and the race result. For it all to happen at my home Grand Prix, there's nothing that can top it unless we won. But we've got to keep our feet on the ground, and I think we're taking positive steps every weekend.”

Rossi ended a crash-strewn Indianapolis weekend in a lonely fourth place, the Italian declaring himself satisfied with his display in a physically and mentally demanding race.

Rossi suffered more than most as temperatures hit a punishing 90 degrees and humidity levels reached a weekend high during the 28-lap race. The 31-year-old is still well short of full fitness as he fights back to 100% following the broken right leg he suffered in Mugello in early June. Rossi, who crashed three times prior to the race, ended the first lap in sixth position and he needed four laps to ease by Nicky Hayden’s factory Ducati for fifth.

Rossi then had to wait until lap 20 before he could produce another overtake on compatriot Dovizioso to claim fourth. By that stage he was too far back to contemplate attacking Fiat Yamaha teammate Lorenzo to notch only his fourth rostrum of the season.

The nine-time world champion said: “During the race I had some good laps and I wasn't far from the other Yamahas. This is good for me because in Laguna Seca and Brno I was never as fast as the other Yamahas. Unfortunately, I have problem with my physical condition and in this heat it was very difficult. And at the end, I needed to give up because I didn't have any more strength or power. But I'm happy because we came back to our normal setting to the bike like I want it and I rode well considering I crashed three times.”

There was no denying though that Rossi had found nearly 48 minutes on track a grueling mission and he added: “I suffered a lot. My physical condition has improved because I have less pain. But I have less strength throughout the race and I'm not at the maximum. There was a part of the race where I was competitive. But I didn't have enough power for the whole race. This is the main target to come back to getting a victory.”

Looking ahead to his home race in Misano this weekend where temperatures can soar into the high 30s, Rossi played down hopes of claiming a victory for the first time since he returned from injury at the Sachsenring in July. He said: “Right now, I'm not fit to try to win.”

Dani Pedrosa breathed fresh life back into his MotoGP world title challenge with a convincing victory in Indianapolis. With runaway series leader Jorge Lorenzo experiencing a rare off-day in third place, Pedrosa clawed back nine precious points to cut the deficit at the top of the standings to 68 points with seven races left.

Pedrosa bided his time superbly in the opening exchanges of a 28-lap race staged in energy-sapping heat and humidity. He made up one place on the first lap to take fourth and quickly moved into the top three with a clinical move on former Repsol Honda teammate Nicky Hayden on the second lap. The 23-year-old made passing teammate Andrea Dovizioso look easy before he set about hunting down a hard-charging Ben Spies on the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha YZR-M1.

Spies had managed to eke out a lead of just over a second after he made a blistering start from the first pole position of his career. But not even Spies could halt Pedrosa’s relentless charge and once the triple world champion moved into the lead on lap seven, a 34th career win was then merely a formality. The Texan tried his utmost to maintain Pedrosa’s pace without any success and a winning margin of 3.575s did little justice to just how dominant Pedrosa had been.

Pedrosa, who crashed out of the lead during last year’s Indianapolis race, said: “It was very, very warm out there and you didn't cool down in the 45 minutes at all. It was hard but I did a good race. I think the rhythm was very good. The track was slippery because when the asphalt gets over 120 degrees, the bike always starts to slide a lot. But it is the same thing for everybody. I did not make a perfect start, but I was good on the first small corners to be still in fourth place. And then I just tried to overtake. Spies was quite fast and maybe half-a-second or more ahead, and he was pulling away very, very strong. But I could pick up my pace and pass him. I just tried to do my rhythm and I was able to escape and do a good pace. I am very happy because my bike was fast in the straight.”

Pedrosa admitted it had been hard to maintain concentration in such grueling heat, particularly after the drink pack in the back of his leathers malfunctioned.

He added: “By the end it was hard to stay focused because it was very tiring and the tube I had for the water was not working. I’m tired but very happy because last year I crashed here and I could win the race, but this time I did. There were so many crashes because of the bumps and the track temperature. If you just miss one line in one corner, you can be immediately on the ground. So it was very important to be focused in every corner and make no mistake with the bumps, especially at the end when the tires were more damaged. When you go over the bumps, the bike is shaking a little bit more and it was more difficult to control. But even that, I was able to stay in the front, not crash this time and finish the race on top.”

Pedrosa has now won more than two races in a MotoGP season for the first time in his career.

Jorge Lorenzo refused to be too downbeat after he scored his worst result of the 2010 MotoGP world championship in Indianapolis.

The Spaniard never seriously looked like challenging for a third-successive victory on American soil as he struggled to fight his way by Andrea Dovizioso’s Repsol Honda in the opening laps. The 23-year-old, who had never finished below second in the opening 10 races, lost three places on the first lap and it took him until the third lap to fight his way by home favorite Nicky Hayden. Lorenzo then needed nine further laps before he could finally sweep by Italian Dovizioso into third place. By the time he made his move on lap 12, compatriot Dani Pedrosa and impressive rookie Ben Spies had cleared off into the distance.

Lorenzo, who saw his series lead cut to 68 points courtesy of Pedrosa’s commanding third win of the season, said: “I must not be disappointed but I'm not happy with my race. I didn't ride so well. The start didn't help me to make the race better. That's why I didn't feel so good with my physical condition. Already by the third lap I was tired and I was not able to make the same pace as in practice. Anyway, this is my worst result, and I think for Misano we will come back again. I really didn't make a good start, and I lost two or three positions. And then after my bike wasn't so quick on the straight, I only got a chance to overtake Dovizioso because he made a mistake in the last corner and he made a wheelie. I exited perfect out of the last corner and I overtook him in the first corner. But I didn't think I could pass Andrea.”

Conditions were some of the most extreme witnessed in recent years and almost comparable to the punishing heat and humidity experienced at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia. Lorenzo added: “The track was so slippery and also the bumps were difficult. I almost crashed in some corners, so I prefer to finish third and not to take so many risks.”

Casey Stoner’s winless run in the MotoGP world championship extended to 12 races now after he crashed out of the top six in yesterday’s Indianapolis MotoGP race. The Australian made a shocking start and found himself in ninth place at the end of the first lap.

Using a new 2011-spec Ohlins front fork in a race for the first time, Stoner quickly passed Marco Simoncelli on the second lap and was promoted into seventh spot a lap later when Marco Melandri crashed out. He then passed struggling factory Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden for sixth on lap six. But just as he was poised to mount an assault on reigning world champion Valentino Rossi, he lost the front-end of his GP10 machine.

It was Stoner’s third race crash so far in 2010 following costly mistakes in the season’s opening clash in Qatar and Le Mans. His latest fall relegated him back down to fourth place in the overall standings with Dovizioso’s hard fought fifth-place putting him seven points in front of Stoner.

Stoner is now only 10 points clear of American Hayden in seventh position and he said: “I am very disappointed because it was a nothing crash but obviously it was enough to leave me out of the race. I know a lot of people have had front end crashes but apparently here at Indianapolis we have gone back to the situation we were in at the start of the season and we've struggled to find front-end feel in the corners. It is a real shame because we had good pace and I think we could have been on the podium."

Nicky Hayden’s hopes of maintaining his 100% podium record in the Indianapolis MotoGP race were thwarted by a freak incident.

Starting from the front row of the grid for the first time in his Ducati career, the 29-year-old held third place on the first lap before he quickly started to drop down the order, Repsol Honda’s Pedrosa relegated him down to fourth on the second lap and Lorenzo guided his factory Yamaha YZR-M1 by a lap later. And it was on the third lap that Hayden’s hopes of retaliating against the Spanish duo came to grief.

The 2006 world champion, who signed a new two-year deal with Ducati in Indianapolis, lost his left knee slider when he lost the front end in Turn 12.
He faded to sixth and finished a massive 35 seconds behind eventual winner Pedrosa.

The Kentucky rider said: “I still can't believe what happened and I am so disappointed. I was being careful over the first few laps because in that heat the track was very greasy. I lost the front slightly on the third lap and caught my left knee on a drain cover on one of the curbs, right where the knee slider attaches to the Velcro. There are so many left-hand corners here... from that point on I had to take it really steady, I couldn't push anywhere and finished up with a huge hole in my leathers. I am incredibly disappointed because we had the pace to put in a performance today. I'm quite confident I could have fought for the podium. I was right there being fifth on Friday and third on Saturday. We were in a position we could have fought for the podium and it's unfortunate. Home race and something stupid like this happens. I haven't had this problem happen to me since I've been with Alpinestars. If it would have been the right side, maybe I could have been okay but at this level you can't have anything go wrong.”