We’ve got a nice video highlight and a great batch of pics from this weekend’s Indianaplis GP for you to enjoy.

Continue reading: Video and Gallery of Pics from Indianapolis GP

When you’re a champion expectations are high, and sometimes unreasonably so as demonstrated over the weekend at the Indianapolis MotoGP. With Valentino Rossi’s performance after the free practice sessions described as a ‘debacle’ and then variously criticised during the race before a respectable fourth place, you’d think the world had suddenly forgotten what Rossi’s season has been so far.

After a serious injury that nearly saw him out for most of his last season with Yamaha, Rossi’s early return (perhaps because it is his last season) has been considered nothing short of a heroic miracle. A predictable announcement of his move to Ducati was only spiced up by his own hand written goodbye Yamaha letter, and otherwise mired in the usual PR treatment. The announcement followed a dramatic crash and re-entry to racing but it seems we’re intent on underestimating the stress a champion might feel and overestimating his ability to live up to our idolising.

When Rossi got his fourth place, some of the negative commentary died down, perhaps finally indicating that some of the hype surrounding the rider and his announcement to move to Ducati is subsiding. As David Emmett writes, MotoGP races are proving to be about chasing perfection, and Rossi is a good example of where you can arrive on being consistently high class. His performance over the weekend shows that firstly, he does make mistakes, and then secondly, he still knows how to fight. And has every intention of riding the rest of his season with Yamaha to the best of his ability. Rossi himself was far more realistic about his performance, as the rider quotes reveal. He says:

Continue reading: Valentino Rossi: lacklustre or misunderstanding a champion?

The 11th round of the MotoGP championship at the famed Indianapolis Speedway that saw Dani Pedrosa conquer the top spot of the podium for the third time this season in very difficult race for all the riders who had problems with the heat and the slippery and bumpy track.

Jorge Lorenzo continues to lead the series with 251 points followed by Pedrosa who clawed back 9 points from his rival and now stands at 183 points.

Here’s what all seventeen riders had to say about their race.

Dani Pedrosa - 1st

“I’m really happy with this win and it was an especially tough one because of the heat today. I didn’t make the perfect start but I was quite quick through the first few tight corners and stayed close to the leaders. My rhythm was good today and even though Spies was strong in front I was able to close him down and make the pass. I’m really pleased with the performance of my bike because it was fast on the straights and also was working well in the corners. When I was out in front it was quite hard to stay focused and at the end of the race I was really tired - but I’m very happy because last year I crashed when I could have won and now I have made up for it. There were many crashes this weekend and it would have been easy to make a mistake in the race - you only need to go a little off line and you can be on the ground immediately, especially towards the end of the race when the tyres are worn. I’ve gone past the barrier of two MotoGP race wins in a season so I’m very happy. We are doing a good job and I hope we can maintain this momentum next weekend at Misano. I want to thank the team and all the people around me for this win.”

Continue reading: Rider Quotes from Indianapolis MotoGP Race

Dani Pedrosa dominated today’s race MotoGP at Indianapolis taking his third win of the 2010 season and breaking his two race a season duck. The Repsol Honda rider was only fourth on the first lap with Ben Spies taking the holeshot from his pole postion and breaking away from the rest of the field for the first seven laps, but Pedrosa would overtake Spies on the eighth lap and then runaway with the race winning with a controlled 3.575 second lead.

Rookie Ben Spies took an amazing second place and this was his best ever finish and his second podium of the year with the Yamaha Tech3 team after a third place at Silverstone. Spies announced this weekend that he’ll be riding in the Yamaha factory next season.

Jorge Lorenzo who seemed to have the best race pace during the practice sessions took third and this spot was his ‘worst’ finish of the season. When Lorenzo arrived at the parc ferme he was suffering from heat exhaustion and had to sit down and remove the top part of his leathers and was unable to talk to the reporters.

Valentino Rossi finally managed to stay up right on his M1 after crashing out three times this weekend to take the fourth spot ahead of Andrea Dovizioso, who started to fade in the second half of the race to take fifth.

While Ben Spies second place thrilled American fans, Nicky Hayden, who took his first Ducati front row with third in qualifying had an uphill race after loosing his left knee slider on a kerb and had to continue the race without any protection. If Hayden suffered, his team mate Casey Stoner had it even worse, he lost the front of his Ducati again and crashed out.

Continue reading: MotoGP Indianapolis: Dani Pedrosa runs away with the victory

This morning’s twenty minute warm-up practice at Indianapolis saw Jorge Lorenzo regain the command of the time charts. The Spaniard put in best lap of 1′40″482 that propelled him ahead of the rest of the field.

Lorenzo was followed by Dani Pedrosa and pole man Ben Spies who was 0.229s from Lorenzo and just 0.003s from Pedrosa. Casey Stoner finished the session in fourth and Andrea Dovizioso was fifth.

Valentino Rossi took the sixth spot and was finally able to break under the 1.41 mark, but once again suffered another lowside. This is incredibly his third crash of the weekend. Rossi’s future team mate Nicky Hayden was seventh and little more than five tenths from the top spot.

Continue reading: MotoGP Indianapolis: Warm-up sees Lorenzo on top

Today’s MotoGP qualifying was held in warm and sunny conditions with the Indianapolis track temperatures over 50ºC. With Ben Spies taking his first ever MotoGP pole position and here’s what 16 of the 17 riders had to say after the session.

Ben Spies -1st

“This is a great feeling for me to get my first MotoGP pole position and for it to come in front of the American crowd and here at Indianapolis with all the history makes it even more special. And I’m glad for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team too. This team helped catapult me into this position and I’ve been trying to give as much for them as I can, even though I’ll be moving to Yamaha’s factory team next year. I’ve got to say I really put it on the line this afternoon. I’d come so close at Brno a couple of weeks ago to getting my first pole position and I really wanted to finish the job on home soil. And being on the front row with Nicky too is pretty incredible for MotoGP racing in America. There was no way coming into this weekend that I thought this result was possible. Bur I’ve been able to do it and now I’m going to concentrate on getting a good start and giving it everything in the race. I’d love a podium and my best result at home but I’m not going to get ahead of myself. But right now I’ll certainly enjoy today.”

Continue reading: Rider Quotes from Indianapolis MotoGP Qualifying session

Today’s MotoGP qualifying session at Indianapolis saw Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider Ben Spies stun the paddock by taking his first ever pole position with a blazing lap of 1′40.105 that not even his future Yamaha factory team mate Jorge Lorenzo could touch.

Lorenzo claimed second and was 0.220 slower than Spies and he just managed to knock out Ducati’s Nicky Hayden from the second spot by 0.011s. The Kentucky Kid is will take off from third and it’s the first time since his debut in Ducati in 2009 that he’s on the front row.

The second row will see Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso and team mate Dani Pedrosa in fourth and fifth respectively, while Casey Stoner who lead both free practices could only manage a sixth spot, baulked by traffic on his fast lap and exchanging heated hand waving gestures with Mika Kallio and returning a tit for a tat, slowing down both Kallio and Hector Barbera on their fast laps.

Continue reading: MotoGP Indianapolis: Ben Spies on Pole!

Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner was again the fastest rider in an exciting second practice for the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix.

The Australian set down his best lap of 1′40″331 in an final last lap lunge, where the riders in the last ten minutes were outdoing themselves with fast laps and the top spot changed hands several times. Stoner’s session however was hampered when he lost his right kneeslider on a kerb and had to return to his garage to replace it and when he got back on track, lost the front of his Ducati at turn 8 on the bumpy Indy track, but he was more than half a second faster than yesterday’s practice.

Dani Pedrosa took the second spot finding the rear traction he was looking for yesterday and he was just 0.058s from Stoner’s lap after pipping the spot from his team mate Andrea Dovizioso in third and just one tenth of a second slower than the Ducatista.

Fourth went to points leader Jorge Lorenzo, followed by Ducati’s Nicky Hayden who wasn’t suffering from any ill effects from yesterday’s crash, and grabbed the fifth spot after following Pedrosa and was the last rider to break under the 1.41 mark.

Continue reading: MotoGP Indianapolis: Casey Stoner on top in FP2

Casey Stoner lead the top of the charts in today’s MotoGP free practice at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Ducati rider using the new 2011 Öhlins forks was the only rider to go under the 1.41 mark and precisely his best lap was 1′40″884 and that was enought to leave Jorge Lorenzo now known as Iron Man, in second and a little more than two tenths from the Australian.

The third spot went to Nicky Hayden who is still nursing a chipped radius from his Brno qualifying crash, lowsided again with 13 minutes left in the session, and was seen holding his left hand again, but it seems he didn’t aggravate his injury.

Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi were fourth and fifth respectively and both struggled through out the hour session. Pedrosa was able to move up the time chart with eight minutes to go while Rossi was going through front end problems on his M1 could manage the fifth spot only on his very last run and this doesn’t bode well for his weekend.

Continue reading: MotoGP Indianpolis: Casey Stoner tops the chart in FP1

Last year Jorge Lorenzo won the Indianpolis GP wearing a Captain America helmet, this year the Fiat Yamaha rider has decided to sport another Marvel Comic book hero design on his Nolan X-Lite X-802 and has picked out Iron Man to pay tribute to.

Is Lorenzo wearing an Iron Man helmet to pay homage to the comic hero or is it a subtle message stating the obvious, that he is truly this year’s MotoGP’s Iron Man?

Source | lorenzo99twitter

Continue reading: Jorge Lorenzo Loves Comic Hero Helmets

Hiroshi Aoyama has received the okay from his doctor in Barcelona to race in the upcoming U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis. The Japanese rider who crashed at Silverstone during warm-up practice fracturing his 12th vertebra, will return to action after a nine week recovery period.

Aoyama took part in the MotoGP post race test with his Interwetten Honda team at Brno a week ago as part of his fitness test and decided to wait until this week before confirming his partecipation in the eleventh round of the season.

“I am so happy that I am finally coming back. Today I had another X-Ray and the doctor confirmed me that my broken vertebra looks good and did not change its shape, which is essential in this state of the injury. I got the okay to ride in Indianapolis and I can’t wait to get back on my bike.” said Aoyama “Of course I want to be fast, but first I have to gain my confidence and feeling with the bike back, then I can concentrate on being fast. It will not be easy after such a long time away to ride with the group again, but step by step I will get there I get my strength back from the start of the season. I missed six races, that is a lot and I have to see how I can cope with the situation after such a long time and how I can cope with the pain level. I am so happy to finally come back.”

Aoyoma is currently 17th in the standings with 18 points.

Continue reading: Hiroshi Aoyama to race at Indy GP

Nicky Hayden has revealed this special edition one Arai helmet design that he’ll be wearing in this weekend’s Indianapolis GP. The Arai helmet designed by Starline features the Indianpolis Speedway’s name, the famed Brickyard and the tower.

Hayden and Jorge Lorenzo have been the only MotoGP riders to finish on the Red Bull Indianapolis GP podium in the race’s two-year history and after the jump you can check out the video of Hayden promoting the 2010 Indy GP.

Expect a Ducati press release this weekend confirming the American rider in their factory team for the 2011 season, which we already knew after Ducati’s CEO Gabriele Del Torchio spilled the beans earlier this month.

Continue reading: Nicky Hayden's 2010 Indianpolis GP Helmet