The Moto2 Series race at Indianapolis got off to a clear start for everyone excetp Marc Marquez. He began with the second place slot on the front row then had a terrible start, dropping back immediately to fourth place by the first turn. With no other issues the motorcycle train flew down into turn 9 with everyone tight together.
For this first lap, Andrea Iannone led on his Speed Master, Speed Up motorcycle.
Opening Laps
In lap 2 Dominique Aegerter on the Technomag-CIP Suter machine moved into the lead with a time of 1'45.457. Marc Marquez on the CatalunyaCaixa Repsol Suter moved up to second place while Andrea Iannone dropped back to third.
On the third lap there was no clear leader or group pulling way. Everyone held together with Marc Marquez clinging to the front postion. Aegerter was in second and Iannone was in third. At this point of the race, six riders were together in the front and starting to create a gap between them and the rest of the Moto2 racers. Seventh place Mika Kallio was 2.006 seconds behind the leader on his Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex machine.
During lap 5 of 26 Marc Marquez started to run ahead and create a commanding lead, a good 2.120 seconds ahead of second place Andrea Iannone and Dominique Aegerter holding on to third. Into the seventh lap Pol Espargaro on his Pons 40HP Tuenti Kalex motorcycle moved up into third, but he was still three seconds behind Marquez.
Mid-Race
On the eighth lap, Espargaro moved into second place with Julian Simon on the Blusens Avintia, Suter machine coming into third at 3.683 seconds behind the leader. On lap 13 the same three racers were at the front with Marquez now 4.678 seconds ahead of Espargaro and 5.058 seconds ahead of Julian Simon.
Back in the pack in the third wave of Moto2 bikes #80 Esteve Rabat on the other Pons 40 HP Tuenti, Kalex machine was battling with Andrea Iannone who was now back in tenth place. On lap 14 Nicolas Terol on the Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2, Suter took the position back from Iannone who kept dropping back lap-on-lap.
By lap 16 Marquez was nearly 6 seconds in front of everyone else — a 5.973 second advantage over Espargaro in second place and Simon in third place. On lap 18 of 26 the field had become very spread out and Marquez looked like he had the race in the bag, with Espargaro and Simon over 6 seconds behind him. Thomas Luthi on the Interwetten-Paddock, Suter machine was in fourth followed by Mika Kallio.
Final Laps
On lap 19 Marquez had lost a bit of his lead — but only a bit, dropping three hundredths of a second to 5.747 seconds ahead of Espargar. By lap 20, though, he stretched his his lead back to over six seconds again.
When they crossed the line on lap 21 Marquez had moved even farther ahead to 6.242 seconds in front of second place. Scott Redding on the Marc VDS Racing team, Kalex started making his way through the racing field, taking sixth place with a time of 1'44.775.
With just 2 laps to go Marquez's pit crew signalled for him to slow down a little. He was still running 1'44.193 laps with a 6.564 second lead over Espargaro. This gave him some breathing room as he approached the final lap.
In the end it was a predictable Moto2 race — although he had such a disappointing start, Marc Marquez was able to take then lead and keep it, never letting it go after the third lap. Espargaro crossed the finish line in second place and Julian Simon in third.
The news on the street is that 19-year-old Marc Marquez will be taking Casey Stoner's place next season on the Repsol Honda MotoGP bike. It's not hard to see why that might be the case.
After the Moto2 Race
In the press conference after the Moto2 race Marquez commented on his fifth win of the season and how he decimated the field. "I was very surprised at how slow the pace was, I was alone at the front it was quite difficult. This is an important victory going into the second part of the season"
Pol Espargaro said that he was "disappointed with his pace today, it was difficult for me because I felt some problems with the front and the rear and I could not keep the fast pace of yesterday. We had some chattering on the straight, but it's great to be in second position and we have to think about Brno next week."
Julian Simon told reporters "I am so happy to be on the podium. It has been tough after I broke my leg, but we had a good sensation with the bike today and I am very happy with our performance.
Now it's onto Brno in the Czech Republic for the Moto2 Grand Prix.
