Motorcycling: Supreme Stoner in sight of world crown

Casey Stoner tightened his grip on the MotoGP title, blitzing to victory at the Indianapolis Grand Pix yesterday for his third consecutive win and seventh of the season.

Stoner, starting from pole after destroying the track record in Saturday qualifying, briefly surrendered the lead to Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa but roared past the Spaniard seven laps later and then powered his way to a runaway victory.

Pedrosa, last year's winner at the Brickyard, settled for second, crossing nearly five seconds back, while American Ben Spies gave the home crowd something to cheer, taking third.

With a 10th consecutive podium finish, Stoner extended his lead at the top of the standings over Spain's reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo, who finished fourth, to 44 points.