Lorenzo wins Indianapolis MotoGP

Spain's Jorge Lorenzo gave his slim hopes of catching Yahama teammate Valentino Rossi for the Moto GP world championship a big boost Sunday with a triumph in the Indianapolis Grand Prix.

Spain's Jorge Lorenzo gave his slim hopes of catching Yahama teammate Valentino Rossi for the Moto GP world championship a big boost Sunday with a triumph in the Indianapolis Grand Prix.

Before the race the 22-year-old said making up a 50-point deficit on Rossi was "impossible."

It looked a little more feasible after Lorenzo, who had crashed in his last two races, recorded his third victory of 2009 and Rossi failed to score a point after crashing early in the race.

"His misfortune was good for me. It makes a difficult thing for me a little more possible," said Lorenzo, who has five more races to catch his teammate.

"This is fantastic for me," he added. "I've had two crashes in a row, but now I've won and my closest rivels have crashed instead. I'm sorry for them, but these are the highs and lows of racing and it is an amazing result for me."

Lorenzo, who was the series rookie of the year in 2008, won the 28-lap, 118.104 km race by more than nine seconds over runner-up Alex De Angelis of San Marino.

American Nicky Hayden, who finished second in the inaugural Indianapolis race last year, was third, fending off the late challenge of Andrea Dovizioso.

Lorenzo averaged 149.976 km/h on his Yamaha to win in 47min 13.592sec.

De Angelis was 9.435 seconds behind the leader as he earned his first podium finish on the circuit.

Eight-time world champion Rossi of Italy, Lorenzo's Fiat-Yamaha teammate and the current points leader, had his bid for a second consecutive Indianapolis victory come to a premature end when he crashed and slid onto the grass on the 10th lap.

He managed to remount, but soon pitted and walked away.

Pole sitter Dani Pedrosa of Spain pulled away at the start and led Rossi after the first four laps with Lorenzo third.

Pedrosa slid out of the lead with a crash in Turn 15 and eventually finished 10th.

Rossi and Lorenzo then dueled for the lead with Lorenzo in front when Rossi went down.

"A disappointment of course! We struggled with the settings all weekend, but we made an improvement today and I got a good start," Rossi said. "I knew it would be between Jorge and I, but I honestly don't know how it would have finished because Jorge was very fast."

Rossi, seeking his seventh world championship in the premier MotoGP class, said he "ran wide onto a dirty part of the track" and lost the front of his motorcycle.

"I tried to carry on, but there was a problem with my throttle and it wasn't possible."

Despite his fall, Rossi retains his overall lead in the standings with 212 points, but Lorenzo reinforced his position as the only rider with any realistic chance of catching him with five races remaining.

Lorenzo halved his deficit from 50 to 25 points as he took his total to 187.

Australian Casey Stoner, who missed his third straight race with a mystery illness, is third with 150 points.