FUMES

September 2, 2009

Publisher's Note: "Fumes" will be back next week, but I thought in the interim we'd share with our readers some photos from the MotoGP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last Sunday. Twenty-two-year-old Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat-Yamaha) saw his two main rivals - Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi - hit the pavement as the Spaniard then cruised to an easy 9-1/2-second win over Alex de Angelis from San Marino and American Nicky Hayden (his best finish of the season), averaging 93.19 mph. It was Lorenzo's first win since May 31, and he cut Rossi's point lead from 50 to 25. Pedrosa, also from Spain, was quickest all weekend, finally setting a blistering lap of under 1 minute, 40 seconds on Indy’s 2.621-mile road course in qualifying on his Repsol Honda, but he threw it all away in Turn 15 on lap 4 while leading. Though Pedrosa would return, he wound up 10th, 45 seconds behind Lorenzo. Rossi - the six-time MotoGP world champion acknowledged as one of the all-time greats of the sport, if not the greatest - stunned the crowd when he lost the front end of his bike while trying to re-pass Lorenzo. Rossi rejoined the race briefly, but he was all done on lap 12. It's the first time Rossi has DNF'd since Valencia in 2007. “I ran wide onto a dirty part of the track at turn one and lost the front,” Rossi told the media afterwards. “I tried to carry on but there was a problem with the throttle. Once he (Pedrosa) fell, I knew it would be between Jorge and I. It would have been better to finish second than not to have finished at all.” Headed to the flag, Lorenzo pulled a magnificent high-speed wheelie for the crowd, and then he climbed the fence to celebrate à la Helio Castroneves after he rolled to a stop. It was great stuff and hands-down, my favorite motor racing to watch. - PMD

(Mike Harding/IMS)
Red Bull Indianapolis GP winner Jorge Lorenzo.

(Ron McQueeney/IMS)
Down goes Pedrosa (!) as Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo speed by.

 (Ron McQueeney/IMS)
The great Valentino Rossi at speed at Indy.

(Ron McQueeney/IMS)
It was Jorge Lorenzo's day at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP last Sunday.

(Dan Helrigel/IMS)
Nicky Hayden celebrates his best finish of the season.

(Mike Harding/IMS)
Lorenzo heads for the flag!

(Chris Jones/IMS)
The world would no doubt be a darker place without the Red Bull Grid Girls!

See another live episode of "Autoline After Hours" hosted by Autoline Detroit's John McElroy, with Peter De Lorenzo and friends this Thursday evening, September 3, at 7:00PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv.

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Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
Darlington, SC, May 8, 1965. Junior Johnson (left) and Marvin Panch (right) lean on each other at the start of the Rebel 300 at Darlington Raceway. Johnson would dominate the race and go on to win, while Panch crashed out. Ned Jarrett would win the famed Southern 500 later that year in his '65 Ford. This Labor Day weekend should see the traditional running of the Southern 500 at Darlington, but since NASCAR went out of its way to abandon its traditions - and turn off its hardcore fan base - the series will be at Atlanta instead. Not Good.