By Ken de la Bastide
Tribune enterprise editor
INDIANAPOLIS — Dani Pedrosa led a Spanish sweep of the three MotoGP events at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on a day when American Peter Lenz died in a warm-up lap crash on Sunday.
Although there was sunny, clear skies and Americans Ben Spies and Nicky Hayden starting on the front row, the attendance for the race weekend was down by approximately 10,000 over the 2009 event. Figures released showed 62,794 people on Sunday and a weekend total of 136,184,
Pedrosa recorded his third win of the year and first in the Red Bull Indianapolis GP. Along with Toni Elias and Nicholas Terol, riders from Spain swept the three events at Indy.
Pedrosa took the lead from fast qualifier Spies on lap 7 with an inside move entering turn one. At one point, Pedrosa opened a lead of more than 5 seconds before settling for a win by 3.575 seconds. Spies finished second.
Favorite Jorge Lorenzo dropped back to fifth on the opening lap and started his climb to the front on lap three by passing Hayden. He moved into the third position on lap 12.
Valentino Rossi finished fourth followed by Andrea Dovizioso and Hayden.
Australian Casey Stoner crashed on lap eight while running sixth and retired from the event. Texas Colin Edwards retired and was not classified at the finish.
“It was most difficult,” Pedrosa said of the race conditions with temperatures above 90 degrees. “The track was slippery, but I kept my rhythm throughout the whole race.”
For Spies, who won his first pole position on Saturday, it was the second podium finish of the year and the best of the season.
“It was big,” he said of the second-place run. “It was a good race, not perfect, but I didn’t make to many mistakes.”
Spies said the track was greasy and Pedrosa was just too fast on Sunday.
In the first Moto2 race ever at Indianapolis, points leader Toni Elias battled with fast qualifier Julian Simon for much of the first half before finally taking the lead on lap 12.
The start of the race was red-flagged when eight drivers went down in turn two. It appeared that American Roger Lee Hayden jumped the curb and rode up across the track and collected three other drivers. Behind that group, four others went down in the corner.
Elias, starting from the sixth position, vaulted into the lead followed by Scott Redding and Simon.
On the second lap, Hector Faubel crashed while running fifth. Simon took the lead from Elias and, along with Redding, staged close racing until Elias reclaimed the top position.
From there, Elias and Simon pulled away from Redding, who finished third. Andrea Iannone rode to a fourth-place finish after starting 26th in the 39-bike field, with Simone Corsi recovering after starting from the pit lane to finish fifth.
It was Elias’ third consecutive win in Moto2 competition.
In the 125cc race, Spain’s Nicolas Terol recorded his second win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in three starts when leader Marc Marquez crashed on lap nine.
Terol led Bradley Smith by more than 7-seconds when Smith slid off the course in turn 11, which gave the second position to Sandro Cortez.
At the finish, Terol won by 4.9 seconds over Cortez followed by Pol Espargaro, Efren Vazquez and Esteve Rabat. Drivers from Spain took four of the top five positions.
Through an interpreter, Terol said it was a difficult race after not getting a good start. After Marquez crashed, Terol said he wanted to remain focused and concentrate until the end of the race.
Young rider killed
Lenz, the pole sitter for the United States Grand Prix Racer’s Union, crashed with Xavier Zayat on the warm-up lap in the MD250 class race. Lenz, 13, Vancouver, Wash., was transported to Methodist Hospital with traumatic injuries, where he was later pronounced dead. He started racing motorcycles at the age of 5 and won several national and regional championships.
“Peter Lenz passed away [Sunday] morning from injuries sustained from a racing accident,” a statement from his family said. “On behalf of the Lenz family, we would like to thank Peter’s friends and supporters for all their help throughout the years. We are deeply saddened by this tragic loss, but know that Peter is racing even faster in the sky.”
The MD250 class, which uses Honda motorcycles, was running as a support class for the MotoGP weekend at IMS.
