Dani Pedrosa trimmed a little from Jorge Lorenzo's MotoGP championship lead by winning at Indianapolis ahead of Ben Spies. Lorenzo had to settle for third this time, followed by his Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi and Pedrosa's Honda stablemate Andrea Dovizioso, but still heads the standings by 68 points.
Pedrosa's victory was ultimately a comfortable one, even though he was down in fourth behind shock pole-winner Spies (Tech 3 Yamaha), fast-starter Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden's Ducati at the exit of the the first corner.
While Pedrosa picked off the fading Hayden and then Dovizioso, Spies settled in at the front of the field, establishing a one-second lead in the opening stages. But Pedrosa was soon edging closer, and by lap six he was right on Spies' tail - drafting past with apparent ease on the pits straight and then pulling away.
Spies stayed within a creditable distance though, and was never under any pressure from the works riders behind.
It took Lorenzo 11 laps to fight past Dovizioso to take third, and then longer still to shake the Honda off for good. Dovizioso later fell away from the pace, allowing Rossi to take fourth from him too.
Ducati had a very disappointing race. Hayden could not match his qualifying form and drifted back to sixth, while an unhappy Casey Stoner tumbled to ninth on lap one, recovered several positions, but then crashed out while chasing Rossi for fifth.