Factory Yamaha's Ben Spies is enjoying the third-place finish he worked so hard for a last night's Indianapolis MotoGP race and isn't contemplating what would have happened had he not been shunted back to ninth in the opening corners.

Spies started from second on the grid but got nudged back to fourth into the fast turn one before being baulked and run into which dropped him right down the order. He then fought his way back through the pack but ran out of laps before he could catch Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa.

"If you think what ifs in this sport you would never sleep. We did a great race today it just didn't start out good so we will just enjoy it. We were actually pretty close around fourth place going into turn one, but I think it was Nicky that came on the inside and he pushed a few people wide and just got behind a couple people," said the Texan.

"Then in turn four everything was OK, we weren't in a great position, but then all of asudden I just got hit from the outside. You know, I was happy to stay on the bike after that and found my place, myself back in eighth or ninth. So it made it tough.

"But the actual start itself again really wasn't that bad. I think like I said, Nicky came up in there and wasn't overly aggressive, just kind of was kind of in my way at the wrong time. But that's how it goes, and after that we just, you know, fought like hell and did what we could for the rest of the race."