Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi has paddled to a soaking wet win at today's Indy MotoGP in conditions so appalling that race director Paul Butler stopped it at his first opportunity.

Rossi, who has now beaten Giacomo Agostino's record of 68 wins, had to chase down hometown hero Nicky Hayden on the Repsol Honda to take the victory in a race that started in reasonable conditions.

There was some confusion at the end of the race as riders were not directed into parc ferme despite the fact the race has gone past 66 per cent of the 28 laps and the conditions were appalling.

The rules state the race should be flag to flag unless there are safety reasons to call the race after three-quarter distance.

It looked as if the race were to be re-started for a short-dash but Rossi and Casey Stoner made representations to IRTA chief Mike Trimby and Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta in pitlane and the result was called.

Marlboro Ducati's Casey Stoner led from the line but was soon overhualed by the Michelin-shod Andrea Dovizioso, closely followed by Hayden with Jorge Lorenzo also in the mix.

On lap two, Hayden took the lead and attempted to clear off but Rossi has other ideas, went past team-mate Lorenzo and Dovizioso and took off after the Kentuckian.

It began to rain with 18 laps to go but Rossi kept his hammer down and got past Hayden three laps later. Hayden made one final push after Rossi nearly lobbed it on lap 15 and got back to within a second.

However, the American had a moment someone at the back of the track and lost two seconds which was more than enough of a gap for Rossi as the reg flag came out.

Lorenzo took third and now has an outside chance of second in the title chase as the main protagonists Stoner and Pedrosa could only manage fourth and eighth respectively.

Rizla Suzuki wildcard Ben Spies put in a great ride to finish sixth behind Dovizioso and Sylvain Guintoli rode to an excellent seventh.

Spies' team-mate Chris Vermeulen was ninth with Alex De Angelis rounding out the top ten.

Britain's James Toseland had a disastrous race. He was up as high as eighth but ended the race in 18th place, 1min 8s off the pace with only Marco Melandri behind him.
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