Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo was handed the MotoGP win at Indianapolis this evening when team-mate Valentino Rossi and Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa both crashed out in separate incidents.
Pedrosa, who had a half-ap-second lead over the Doctor, lost the front going into the final turn on lap four while Rossi lobbed it with 19 laps to go, just one lap after Lorenzo had gone past him into the first corner.
The crashes mean the 50-point lead Rossi had going into the Indianapolis round has now been halved as he had to retire with throttle damage. Pedrosa got up and continued to finish in 10th, lapping faster than anyone else on the track and passed LCR Honda's Randy De Puniet and Gresini Honda's Toni Elias on the final lap - but the Spaniard needed a win to equal Casey Stoner's points total for third.
Elias' team-mate Alex De Angelis took his very first MotoGP podium, finishing 10 seconds behind Lorenzo, which won't do his job prospects for 2010 any harm, while Marlboro Ducati's Nicky Hayden got his first top-three finish of the year.
Monster Yamaha's Colin Edwards took fifth place but looking to be suffering a brake horsepower deficit as Andrea Dovizioso breezed past him on the start/finish straight with 14 laps to go.
Britain's James Toseland equalled his best MotoGP result with another sizth place. He was in a a battle with Hayate's Marco Melandri but the Italian crashed out with three laps to go.
