The MotoGP circus rolled into the Brickyard over the weekend, and Riders Discount was there to take it all in. While we couldn’t sneak any of the prototypes out of the paddock, we did have our photographer bring back quite a few photos.
Marc Marquez continued his championship-leading charge by taking pole on Saturday. It wasn’t by a small margin either… he did it by a full half-second, and set a new lap record while doing it. His race start was not perfect, but the rest of his race was. He made his way past Pedrosa, then Lorenzo, and didn’t look back until he took the checkered flag.
Dani Pedrosa started out strong by leading Marquez in 2nd place until the 9th lap. In the end, Pedrosa passed the also-injured Lorenzo for 2nd.
Jorge Lorenzo started strong, and put in his usual consistently fast pace at the front for the first 12 laps. As the race went on, a drop in grip and pain from his collarbone injury relegated him to 3rd place. He also brought a new helmet design that made him easy to spot in the field. Dubbed the “Green Mamba,” the new lid featured a snake motif, and we’ll be sure to let you know if they produce a replica for sale!
Rossi struggled in qualifying and started the race in 9th, which is where he stayed for the first portion of the race. This didn’t last, however, and the Doctor got faster as the race went on. He eventually overtook Bradl, Bautista and, finally Crutchlow on the final lap to finish 4th.
Cal Crutchlow spent most of the race battling it out with Alvaro Bautista for 4th. In the end, the pair were both caught and overtaken by Valentino Rossi during the spectacular final lap. Crutchlow ended up in 5th.
Stefan Bradl struggled throughout the weekend. Two crashes on Saturday left him with bruises and a lower level of confidence going into Sunday’s race. He ended up in 7th, behind Alvaro Bautista.
Colin Edwards had one of his best weekends yet since making the switch to the CRT category. He qualifying as the fastest CRT bike in the field on Saturday, but ended up second in the category to Aleix Espargaro on the Aprilia powered ART.
Bradley Smith got off to an incredible start from the 7th spot on the grid by shooting up to 4th. The rookie Brit eventually slipped back to battle with the Ducati’s of Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovisioso for 8th.
Nicky Hayden spent most of the race battling it out with team-mate Andrea Dovizioso. This lasted until the final corner of the last lap, when Hayden lunged through on the inside. The two ended up making contact, going wide, and getting airborn over the curb before drag-racing to the line. Hayden made out better and ended in 9th.
After a long recovery from a right shoulder injury, Ben Spies was due to make his first race appearance since Texas, but unfortunately a crash on Saturday meant that this would not happen. The only silver-lining is that the newest injury is to his left shoulder, and did not aggravate the existing injury to his right shoulder any further.
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