2008 Indianapolis motorcycle Grand Prix

  2008 Indianapolis Grand Prix

Race details
Race 14 of 18 races in the 2008 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	September 14, 2008
Location	Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.216 km (2.620 mi)
MotoGP
Pole position
Rider	Valentino Rossi
Time	1:40.776
Fastest lap
Rider	Valentino Rossi
Time	1:49.668
Podium
First	Valentino Rossi
Second	Nicky Hayden
Third	Jorge Lorenzo
250 cc
Pole position
Rider	Marco Simoncelli
Time	1:45.168
Fastest lap
Rider	Race Cancelled
Podium
First	Race Cancelled
Second	Race Cancelled
Third	Race Cancelled
125 cc
Pole position
Rider	Pol Espargaro
Time	1:50.475
Fastest lap
Rider	Stefan Bradl
Time	1:50.460
Podium
First	Nicolas Terol
Second	Pol Espargaro
Third	Stefan Bradl

The 2008 Indianapolis motorcycle Grand Prix was the fourteenth round of the 2008 MotoGP Championship. It took place on the weekend of September 12–14, 2008 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – the first time the circuit has hosted a major motorcycle racing event since its first year of operation in 1909. As there was a United States Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca earlier in 2008, this marks the championship's second visit to the USA in 2008, the first time this has ever happened. Unlike the Laguna Seca round, the meeting features the supporting 125cc and 250cc classes, marking their first visit to North America since 1994.

The layout of the circuit is similar to the setup used for the United States Grand Prix Formula One events at the circuit between 2000 and 2007, but not identical. It has been reversed to a counterclockwise layout, with a new Snake Pit complex just after the start-finish line, meaning that the bikes do not use any of the banked oval corners. The double-hairpin at the Hulman Straight was replaced with a traditional esses.

The event was heavily affected by the arrival of the remnants of Hurricane Ike on Indiana; the race day the weather was overcast and cold, with a 100% chance of rain during the event. The 125cc class started with dry track however, and went on until rain began to fall, with 7 laps to go. However, since two-thirds of the scheduled distance had been run, the race was declared over and full points were given. The intensity of the rain then led the organizers to postpone the 250cc race after the MotoGP race, hoping the winds and rain would stop.

The MotoGP race was started at the scheduled time, with a very wet track but little rain, and it went on until lap 21, when strong winds began again to blow. Fearing for the safety of the riders, the stewards red-flagged the race, which was declared over, and full World Championship points were given. The winds did not stop after the race, and safety concerns led to the final cancellation of the 250cc race.

MotoGP classification

File:2008 Indianapolis Grand Prix front row.jpg

The front row for the MotoGP class. From bottom to top, pole sitter Valentino Rossi, 2nd place starter Casey Stoner, and 3rd place starter Jorge Lorenzo.

File:Red flag to end MotoGP race.jpg

The red flag is displayed at lap 21.

Pos	No	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	20	37:20.095	1	25
2	69	Nicky Hayden	Honda	20	+5.972	4	20
3	48	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	20	+7.858	3	16
4	1	Casey Stoner	Ducati	20	+28.162	2	13
5	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Honda	20	+28.824	7	11
6	11	Ben Spies	Suzuki	20	+29.645	5	10
7	50	Sylvain Guintoli	Ducati	20	+36.223	14	9
8	2	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	20	+37.258	8	8
9	7	Chris Vermeulen	Suzuki	20	+38.442	15	7
10	15	Alex de Angelis	Honda	20	+42.437	12	6
11	13	Anthony West	Kawasaki	20	+47.179	19	5
12	24	Toni Elias	Ducati	20	+55.962	9	4
13	14	Randy de Puniet	Honda	20	+57.366	6	3
14	21	John Hopkins	Kawasaki	20	+58.353	16	2
15	5	Colin Edwards	Yamaha	20	+1:00.613	11	1
16	65	Loris Capirossi	Suzuki	20	+1:05.620	13
17	56	Shinya Nakano	Honda	20	+1:05.854	17
18	52	James Toseland	Yamaha	20	+1:07.968	10
19	33	Marco Melandri	Ducati	20	+1:21.023	18

125cc classification

File:Top 3 in 125cc race.jpg

Terol celebrates with members of his crew, as Espargaro and Bradl shake hands.

Pos	No	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	18	Nicolas Terol	Aprilia	16	29:51.350	6	25
2	44	Pol Espargaro	Derbi	16	+1.708	1	20
3	17	Stefan Bradl	Aprilia	16	+3.984	3	16
4	45	Scott Redding	Aprilia	16	+4.277	9	13
5	11	Sandro Cortese	Aprilia	16	+4.413	10	11
6	93	Marc Márquez	KTM	16	+4.454	13	10
7	24	Simone Corsi	Aprilia	16	+6.261	7	9
8	38	Bradley Smith	Aprilia	16	+7.782	11	8
9	51	Steve Bonsey	Aprilia	16	+12.035	15	7
10	63	Mike Di Meglio	Derbi	16	+12.251	2	6
11	77	Dominique Aegerter	Derbi	16	+15.465	8	5
12	6	Joan Olivé	Derbi	16	+18.312	12	4
13	35	Raffaele De Rosa	KTM	16	+20.137	17	3
14	1	Gábor Talmácsi	Aprilia	16	+24.651	16	2
15	99	Danny Webb	Aprilia	16	+27.592	4	1
16	16	Jules Cluzel	Loncin	16	+35.432	31
17	21	Robin Lasser	Aprilia	16	+37.082	22
18	33	Sergio Gadea	Aprilia	16	+38.549	23
19	71	Tomoyoshi Koyama	KTM	16	+38.571	18
20	7	Efrén Vázquez	Aprilia	16	+40.991	24
21	55	Hugo Van Den Berg	Aprilia	16	+1:06.197	30
22	54	PJ Jacobsen	Aprilia	16	+1:06.327	25
23	48	Bastien Chesaux	Aprilia	16	+1:07.067	34
24	94	Jonas Folger	Aprilia	16	+1:14.709	29
25	95	Robert Muresan	Aprilia	16	+1:20.413	32
26	5	Alexis Masbou	Loncin	16	+1:21.880	27
27	74	Davide Stirpe	KTM	16	+1:22.026	33
28	36	Cyril Carrillo	Honda	16	+1:22.159	35
29	90	Kristian Lee Turner	Aprilia	16	+2:11.524	36
Ret	8	Lorenzo Zanetti	KTM	13	Retirement	28
Ret	72	Marco Ravaioli	Aprilia	10	Accident	26
Ret	22	Pablo Nieto	KTM	9	Retirement	20
Ret	60	Michael Ranseder	Aprilia	7	Accident	19
Ret	73	Takaaki Nakagami	Aprilia	6	Accident	14
Ret	29	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	5	Retirement	5
Ret	12	Esteve Rabat	KTM	2	Accident	21

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