(NEWS RELEASE)

INDIANAPOLIS, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2011 – The mission will be simple for reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 26-28 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway: Beat Casey Stoner or maybe kiss the World Championship goodbye.

The annual round of the MotoGP World Championship at Indianapolis will take on even more importance after Stoner rode away to victory on his Repsol Honda in the Czech Republic Grand Prix on Aug. 14 at Brno, expanding his lead over Lorenzo to 32 points. Lorenzo finished fourth on his Yamaha.

There are only seven races remaining in the season, including the Red Bull Indianapolis GP, and Lorenzo’s chances of a second consecutive world title are slipping away.

“The championship is now even more difficult for us, but that doesn’t mean it is finished,” 2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP winner Lorenzo said. “There are still a lot of points to be played for, so we must focus on winning the most races we can. Now we must forget this race, which is probably one of the worst this season and possibly in my MotoGP career.”

Stoner earned his sixth victory of the season, beating Repsol Honda teammate Andrea Dovizioso to second by 6.532 seconds. Marco Simoncelli put a season of crashes behind him to earn his first career premier-class podium, finishing third on the San Carlo Honda Gresini machine.

“We knew we could make a strong podium challenge today, but we didn’t really expect the race win,” said Stoner, who qualified third. “After such a hard weekend it’s fantastic to come out with a comfortable win.”

Stoner’s path to victory became easier when pole sitter and Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa fell from the lead on Lap 3. Stoner had just passed Lorenzo for second when 2010 Red Bull Indianapolis GP winner Pedrosa skidded into the gravel trap, and Stoner then worked to expand his lead every lap.

Then Lorenzo, Dovizioso and Simoncelli started a spirited exchange for second. Lorenzo was one of only two riders in the field who used the hard Bridgestone front tire, with the extra hard tire the preferred option of 15 riders. Front tire wear hurt Lorenzo over the closing laps.

All three American riders finished in the top eight heading to their home race. Ben Spies placed fifth on his Yamaha Factory Racing machine despite suffering from a pinched nerve in his neck. 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden was seventh on his Ducati, with Colin Edwards eighth on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine.

American John Hopkins didn’t make his second start of the season on a Rizla Suzuki due to two broken fingers suffered in a crash during practice Saturday morning.

RESULTS

BRNO, Czech Republic – Results of the 22-lap Grand Prix of Czech Republic MotoGP race, with position, rider, country, motorcycle, time behind winner. All riders on Bridgestone tires:

1.	Casey Stoner	Australia	Honda
2.	Andrea Dovizioso	Italy	Honda	+6.532
3.	Marco Simoncelli	Italy	Honda	+7.792
4.	Jorge Lorenzo	Spain	Yamaha	+8.513
5.	Ben Spies	United States	Yamaha	+10.186
6.	Valentino Rossi	Italy	Ducati	+12.632
7.	Nicky Hayden	United States	Ducati	+23.037
8.	Colin Edwards	United States	Yamaha	+24.189
9.	Hiroshi Aoyama	Japan	Honda	+25.202
10.	Hector Barbera	Spain	Ducati	+36.566
11.	Toni Elias	Spain	Honda	+36.679
12.	Randy de Puniet	France	Ducati	+37.109
13.	Loris Capirossi	Italy	Ducati	+48.911
NC	Alvaro Bautista	Spain	Suzuki	+6 laps
NC	Karel Abraham	Czech Republic	Ducati	+10 laps
NC	Cal Crutchlow	Great Britain	Yamaha	+16 laps
NC	Dani Pedrosa	Spain	Honda	+20 laps

NC – Not classified

Fastest lap: Stoner, 1:57.191, Lap 2; Pole lap: Pedrosa, 1:56.591

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POINTS

Riders: Stoner 218, Lorenzo 186, Dovizioso 163, Rossi 118, Pedrosa 110, Spies 109, Hayden 103, Simoncelli 76, Edwards 75, Aoyama 70, Barbera 62, Abraham 46, Elias 43, Bautista 39, Crutchlow 34, Capirossi 29, De Puniet 19, Hopkins 6, Akiyoshi 3.

Manufacturers: Honda 260, Yamaha 217, Ducati 127, Suzuki 45.

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PODIUM QUOTES

CASEY STONER (Repsol Honda Team, winner): “We knew we could make a strong podium challenge today, but we didn’t really expect the race win. As soon as the race got underway, I was having a good battle with Andrea, but this cost me a little time and I was afraid that Jorge and Dani would stretch away from me. But when I got past, I found I had plenty of speed to catch up, and the bike felt great. I passed Jorge and then Dani sadly crashed out, so I pushed to see if I could pull a gap and I was able to do so quite quickly. Then from this point, it was a matter of managing the race. I’m very sorry for Dani; he would have been hard to beat today. After such a hard weekend, it’s fantastic to come out with a comfortable win. Tomorrow we’ll be back on the 1000 for another day of testing, so I hope the weather stays dry for us!”

ANDREA DOVIZIOSO (Repsol Honda Team, second): “I’m really happy to be back on the podium. It’s a good result after a difficult weekend, and second position is so important for the championship. In the warm-up, we made some small changes, and my feeling improved. I had good pace, and when Dani crashed, I tried to stay with Casey. But I made a mistake at Turn 13, and I almost went off the track. I lost contact, and from that moment Casey built a gap that was impossible to catch. I’m happy of how I managed the race, first with Lorenzo and then with Simoncelli, to maintain second position. We have demonstrated one more time that in the race we are there, and I’m really looking forward to Indy in two weeks time.”

MARCO SIMONCELLI (San Carlo Honda Gresini, third): “I am really happy. I have been very strong this year, but it has been tough because we have had some difficult situations to deal with. Me and the team have never lost our faith though and finally the result has come, so I want to thank all of them, as well as Honda and anybody else who has maintained their belief in me. On the last lap today, I just wanted it to be over and nothing bad to happen, and thankfully it all worked out. I am really delighted. I didn’t make a great start and had to pass Valentino, who fought back for three corners and I have the tire marks on my leathers to prove it. It was a nice battle even though it was short. I tried to attack Dovizioso at the end, but he was pushing hard and I decided to settle for the position because I knew Lorenzo was making up ground behind me.”

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AMERICAN RIDER QUOTES

BEN SPIES (Yamaha Factory Racing, fifth): “That was a hard race; I wanted to quit every lap past the ninth. I tried as hard as I could and didn’t make too many mistakes. I just thought with Valentino coming behind me and being ahead in the championship, I’ve just got to keep on going until I fall of this thing. I didn’t fall off and I finished, so it was a good result. Now it’s the complete opposite; it’s my right arm that’s completely dead because that’s all that was working in the race. Again I’ve got to thank the team; the bike was really good and definitely a podium bike. That was the hardest physical race I’ve ever done. We got it finished, put it behind us and we scored some points.”

NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Team, seventh): “It’s been a really tough weekend right from when we got the bikes out of the crates from Laguna, but we chipped away at it. The guys have worked extremely hard, and we got better and better. We even made a change after the morning warm-up that actually helped a bit, although I didn’t really understand it the first few laps, and the group was already gone. I held on and got seventh, which isn’t fantastic. Still, the gap to the front is the closest it’s been this season, which is positive. The bike was really good in a few places, but I was slow in change of direction and couldn’t get the bike to finish the corner and was spinning the tire a lot. We also need to understand why I had the slowest top speed. It would’ve been nice to hang onto that front group a bit longer, but Colin pushed me all the way to the end. The work’s far from over for this weekend, because we’ve got a big day tomorrow. Valentino tried some new parts on the front that they seem real happy about, so hopefully I can try those tomorrow.”

COLIN EDWARDS (Monster Yamaha Tech 3, eighth): “I said yesterday that if I finished in the same position that I started that I would be pretty happy. I guess I am pretty happy, but it was not an easy race. I know I gave it my absolute maximum out there, but eighth position was the best I could do, but by no means was it a bad weekend. In the warm-up this morning, I had zero traction. So we made a small geometry change for the race, and it was definitely better. I had more grip, but the lap time was the same as this morning. All I kept seeing on my lap timer on the dashboard was 58.5, 58.5. It must have been like that for about 14 laps in a row, and at one point I thought it had broken. I just couldn’t go much faster, and it seems we are lacking traction compared to the others. I was spinning the rear tire a lot, and right now our bike feels a little bit unforgiving. I was right on the back of Nicky for pretty much the whole race, but I couldn’t do anything with him. Our lap times just didn’t deviate at all, so I couldn’t get close enough to him. It wasn’t like he had more grip than me, but because we were doing the same pace I didn’t get close enough to attack him.”

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MotoGP SUPPORT CLASS WINNERS

Moto2: Andrea Iannone, Italy, Speed Master Suter. American Kenny Noyes finished 20^th.

125cc: Sandro Cortese, Germany, Intact-Racing Team Germany Aprilia.

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NEXT RACE

Red Bull Indianapolis GP, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Aug. 26-28, Round 12 of 18.

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2011 Red Bull Indianapolis GP tickets: 2011 Red Bull Indianapolis GP tickets are on sale now.

To buy tickets, visit www.imstix.com, call the IMS ticket office at (317) 492-6700 or (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area or visit the ticket office at the IMS Administration Building at the corner of Georgetown Road and 16^th Street. Ticket office and phone hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday-Friday.

The 2011 Red Bull Indianapolis GP is scheduled for Aug. 26-28 at IMS.

Race Day general admission tickets cost $40, with Friday general admission $10 and Saturday general admission $20. A three-day general admission ticket is $60. A Friday-Saturday general admission ticket is $25.

Children ages 12 and under will be admitted free any of the three days of the event when accompanied by an adult with a general admission ticket.

Race Day reserved seat prices will start at $70.