Pedrosa 'destroyed' after Indy MotoGP win (UK users only)

By Matt Roberts BBC MotoGP reporter, Indianapolis

The factory Yamaha team again celebrated the American launch of the Fiat 500 with a special livery at Indianapolis, although, as at Laguna Seca a month ago, one of their riders appeared in standard leathers for the race.

Jorge Lorenzo's race suit was held up at US customs for the Californian event while Valentino Rossi ran out of spares at Indy after crashing three times in practice, meaning he also had to borrow a fairing from his team-mate.

Rossi said it was the first time he could remember crashing twice on the same day since the start of his career and he later joked that it was down to his lack of experience.

Rossi endured a difficult time at Indianapolis

However, it was precisely his unrivalled experience and that of his Jerry Burgess-led crew that he was still able to find a set-up for Sunday's race good enough to trail his team-mate Lorenzo over the line in fourth place.

Both riders, though, will be disappointed that satellite rider Ben Spies finished as the top Yamaha rider with a career-best second place.

Suzuki team boss Paul Denning was absent from Indianapolis after breaking his leg in a motocross accident last week.

Denning was riding in Dorset when he crashed and broke his fibula bone as well as suffering ankle and foot injuries.

In his absence, Alvaro Bautista scored his first points in four races with eighth place, his second-best result of the season, while Loris Capirossi was barged out of 10th place by Hector Barbera on the final lap.

"I got past him but on the last lap he came in a bit too crazy and hit me and put me onto the grass," moaned the veteran Italian.

Casey Stoner did nothing to silence those critics who call him a whinger, blaming other riders for going too fast in the early stages of the race for his latest disappointment - an eighth-lap crash.

Stoner, as amiable and polite an individual as you could wish to meet in private, accused his rivals of "riding like it's a three-lap race" and cited team-mate Nicky Hayden's late braking technique for holding him up.

The Australian also spoke out this weekend about Karel Abraham's step up to MotoGP with a satellite Ducati next season, a move that will be bankrolled by the Czech rider's multi-millionaire father.

Stoner was incensed after his crash

"He is a good guy and he's working hard but he needs to get better results than he is doing now to move up to MotoGP," said the outspoken Stoner.

"If he comes into the class and really proves himself then that's fantastic but he hasn't proven himself enough just yet. There are probably people in national championships who should be with us who just don't get the right opportunities."

One rider waiting eagerly in the wings for a MotoGP opportunity is Cal Crutchlow, and while we expect an announcement from the World Superbike star at Misano this weekend, British riders heroically flew the flag in the Moto2 and 125cc classes at Indianapolis.

The prodigious yet unpredictable Scott Redding, who became the youngest winner in Grand Prix history at the age of 15 at Donington Park two years ago, took his first podium in the intermediate class after dominating free practice and qualifying on the front row to confirm his reputation as one of the brightest talents in the sport.

It was a proud moment for Scott but it was hard to judge whether he was more pleased with pulling off a slam-dunk at a pre-event photo shoot at the Indiana Pacers basketball court on Thursday.

606: DEBATE I am a big Stoner fan but he really doesn't do himself any favours kingrainey3rd

"I scored a couple of hoops or whatever they call it," grinned the gangly youngster. "I'm pretty good. I'd never played it before but it was great fun so I might go home and buy myself a basketball!"

In the minor category Bradley Smith crashed out riding "at 110%" when trying to compensate for a visible top speed deficit to his rivals, while fellow teenager Danny Webb took his best result of the season in sixth place despite suffering heavy blows to the head and stomach in a nasty qualifying tumble.

Marc Marquez still leads the 125cc championship after finishing 10th.

Despite crashing and remounting, has was given a 20-second penalty for cutting the track, while Toni Elias won the Moto2 race in equally unlikely circumstances.

The Spaniard had been suffering with a 39C fever all weekend, and was walking around the paddock in a thick sweater and jacket despite the 34C ambient temperatures, but defied his condition to qualify sixth and storm to a dominant victory - his third in a row.

It is the latest triumph in the face of adversity for a mercurial rider who seems incapable of succeeding unless the odds are stacked hopelessly against him.

Elias took pole position and finished fourth at the opening round of the season in Qatar, less than two weeks after breaking his hand and foot in a testing crash, and followed up that performance with back-to-back wins in the next two races, in spite of his injuries.

His next victory didn't arrive until Sachsenring in round eight, when he fought back from 11th place on the opening lap, and his fourth win of the season came in the next round at Brno when he was disqualified from first practice for breaking testing restrictions.

If he were as capable of performing that well when the odds are in his favour he would be a world champion already.

As it is, with a 67-point lead at the top of the standings, surely even Elias can't deny himself this one.

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