MotoGP Indianapolis Race Report: Marquez wins 10th straight, Lorenzo second, Rossi third

For the first seven laps, it appeared as if Marc Marquez's win streak might end at nine, as the lead group were changing positions with the frequency of the intensely competitive Moto3 or Moto2 classes. But once Marquez gained the lead on lap 10 after swooping up the inside of surprise leader Valentino Rossi (and this after Jorge Lorenzon had temporarily stuffed up the inside of Marquez into turn 1), he quickly decided to take off and avoid any more shenanigans with the two Movistar Yamahas. With a clear track ahead, Marquez inexorably built up a 1.7 second lead by lap 12 to eventually win by 1.8 seconds at the finish after backing off on the last lap with 2.5-second margin in hand. Lorenzo eventually shook off the continued challenges by teammate Rossi to finish second, with Marquez's Repsol Honda teammate Pedrosa recovering from a poor start to finish fourth over Monster Tech 3 Yamaha's Pol Espargaro.

At the start, it was Marquez muffing his pole position with a poor launch to get shuffled back to fifth place as Rossi managed to scythe his way to the front from his fifth-spot grid position. Rossi began to stretch out a lead out front, with Ducati's Andrea Dovisioso and Pramac Ducati's Andrea Iannone taking up positions behind ahead of Marquez and Pedrosa, with Lorenzo in sixth spot. Iannone ran wide in turn 11, letting Marquez through into third on lap 2, with Lorenzo getting past Pedrosa for fifth soon after. Lorenzo swooped by a fading Iannone for fourth to begin lap 3, and then Dovisioso began to pressure Rossi for the lead for the next two laps. Dovi finally made his move entering turn 1 on lap five, but Rossi quickly tried to repass the Ducati rider in turn four and the two touched, allowing Marquez to squirt by into the lead, followed by Lorenzo. Rossi then made an aggressive inside pass on Lorenzo into turn 6 to retake second, but the move allowed Marquez to put more distance between the two battling Yamahas.

It appeared if Marquez was going to pull his disappearing act at this point, but the reigning World Champion made an uncharacteristic mistake in turn 11, allowing Rossi to retake the lead. Things tightened up with the next few laps as Rossi, Marquez, and Rossi were nose to tail. Then to begin lap 10, Lorenzo stuffed up the inside of Marquez to take second in turn 1; Marquez quickly retaliated however as the trio headed into turn 2, stuffing up the inside of Rossi who had left the door wide open, also allowing Lorenzo to take second. Rossi managed to retake second off the exit of turn 4, and it wasn't until lap 14 that Lorenzo could repass his teammate to chase after a fleeing Marquez. But the Repsol Honda rider was already 1.3 seconds ahead, and the top three positions were settled.

"The race was very hard especially because the track temperature was very high compared to yesterday," said Marquez. "It was difficult in the beginning because I was struggling a little bit with the front tire, so I chose to stay behind Valentino and try not to overwear or overheat the tires. When I checked that the front tire was OK I tried to push but then the rear was also sliding a lot. Lorenzo had a very good pace and it was difficult to open a gap. But in the end I was able to manage the distance."

"We've been improving and getting better and better with each race," said Lorenzo. "Today apart from Mugello has been the closest race to the victory for us. The key to the race was the beginning; I make a good start but I lost some positions in the first corner on the first lap. My strong point was not the braking so it was difficult to overtake the riders in front so I just have to wait for some mistakes. The second key to the race was when Marc passed Valentino; he pushed a lot and open a second that I couldn't recover. I needed one or two tenths a lap to catch him, but it was a good result. We just need to improve the bike a little bit and we can challenge for the victory."

"I know it would be difficult (to win the race)," admitted Rossi, "because in practice Marc and Jorge were a little bit faster than me. I enjoyed it a lot because the race at the beginning I had a good pace and I could stay in front for some laps. I tried to push and then Marc overtake; I tried to go with him and not lose a lot, and after I passed Jorge I tried to fight hard with Marc but in some corner he was faster so he made a gap. Anyway I'm satisfied because this track for me is one of the worst, one of the more difficult of the season. From 2008 I cannot make the podium, so today is a good result."

It was the last US appearance in a MotoGP race for Colin Edwards, who announced his retirement at the COTA race back in April. It was certainly an emotional weekend for the Texas Tornado, and Yamaha held a goodbye celebration for him after qualifying on Saturday that was attended by many in the paddock as well as spectators. Both he and the team state that he'll compete in a few more races this year before letting finally leaving (the team has secured the services of Alex De Angelis to replace him in most of the remaining races), as it's no secret that Edwards isn't getting along with the latest Forward Yamaha Open class bike. He finished 13th and earned his first World Championship points since Mugello.

MotoGP Indianapolis race results: