Indianapolis MotoGP

Stateside again...this time at the overrated Indianapolis Motorspeedway...The Brickyard! Who's going to kiss the bricks this year? I've always wondered...when a rider crosses the 'yard of bricks', does it make a 'fart' sound similar to those rumble-bumps that lead up to stop signs on rural highways?. Grab yourself a porkchop on a stick and let's find out!

The organizers do an excellent job of organizing and promoting the race, but the track itself is a bit rinky dink...it is basically comprised of one part aircraft carrier and two parts parking lot cone zone...sprinkle in a variety of surfaces for good measure and even better crashes.

Last years' event played Tina to Hurricane Ike. Crap weather all weekend, spectators getting slapped (get it?) around by the wind, MotoGP race cut short, and the 250's were scrapped altogether...all while Yamaha's display tent made its way onto the back straight. Thrilling. This year looked to be more of the same...Friday's first practice went from wettish, to drying, to wet again, and finally, wetter. Pedrosa was fast all weekend and took pole...Lorenzo and Rossi filled out the first row of the grid. The great American hopes of Hayden and Edwards filled out the ass end of the second row. With Stoner still back in Australia battling the Kangaroo flu, or whatever, it looked like the race would be a 3-way fight amongst the front row dudes...or would it? Rossi came into this round 50 points ahead of Lorenzo in the championship. Lorenzo came into this round with a sweet Captain America replica helmet. Pedrosa came into this round on a tricycle.

Sunday came, and holy shit...it was sunny! Asparagus won the 125's, Simoncelli took the 250's, the MotoGP 'drivers' took their grid spots, our national anthem was poorly karaoke'd by Miss America, and boom goes the dynamite! As expected, lil' Dani took the lead as the field piled into turn 1 and by the time lap 1 was completed, he had gapped the field by a little over a second...followed by Rossi and Lorenzo.

Edwards was sitting back in 4th, but was being pushed from the rear by DeAngelis (#15) and his helmet. DeAngelis was really giving Edwards a hard time and went up the inside of him at turn 2, but Edwards returned the favor and retook his position. At this point, DeAngelis asserted his dominance and took the top position, between the two, for the final time. Nicky Hayden followed DeAngelis' example and also went up the inside of Edwards to take another position.

Meanwhile...things at the front remained the same until the end of the third lap, when Pedrosa lost the front of his Honda going into the tight final corner. To his credit (and the onlooker's amazement), Pedro managed to lift his bike up, remount (28 seconds behind the last place rider) and charge through to an eventual 10th place finish. Nice work, little dude.

And then there were two...with Pedro out, Lorenzo wasted no time in closing the gap on Rossi. A few laps later, Lorenzo took the lead from Rossi at the end of the aircraft carrier. Now that was Rossi sitting in 2nd, he did what he usually does and applied the pressure from behind. He followed Lorenzo around for a few laps and then REALLY applied the pressure...to the Indy tarmac with his helmet and leathers. That's right, Rossi crashed out. Bummer. He managed to get back on track, but retired a few laps later with a bent something-or-other.

With Rossi out (and his 50 championship lead about to be slashed in half), Lorenzo enjoyed roughly a 2 day lead over evryone else. What's a boy to do? Spend the last 2 laps of the race practicing his victory wheelie...which, in the end, was really fucking long. DeAngelis cruised to his first MotoGP podium in a safe 2nd place. In the closing laps, Hayden sat in third, but was under fire from Dovizioso. Spurred on by the fact that the sooner he finished the race, the sooner he could get out of his ridiculous KFC bucket-themed leathers. Hayden succeeded in holding off Dovi and took the final spot on the podium.

So, there you have it....Lorenzo is back in the title chase as the series heads to Rossi's home race at San Marino next weekend. Game on!

Race Result: 1)Lorenzo 2)DeAngelis 3)Hayden 4)Dovizioso 5)Edwards 6)Toseland 7)Capirossi 8)Kallio 9)Elias 10)Pedrosa 11)Vermeulen 12)DePuniet 13)Espargaro 15)Talmacsi

Gravelboat:Rossi/Melandri/Canepa

**Pics courtesy of superbikeplanet.com and motogp.com

T...out