Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa continued his impressive 2010 season by winning his third MotoGP race of the season — the first time in his career, with last Sunday’s win at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

American Ben Spies, who rides for Yamaha, finished second in front of Jorge Lorenzo, with Valentino Rossi finishing in fourth ahead of Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso.

The win was worth 25 valuable championship points to second-placed Pedrosa, who took nine back from Lorenzo, the championship leader after 11 of 18 races.

Starting from the middle of the second row, Pedrosa jetted into fourth on the first lap as he set out to chase Spies, the early race leader in front of a jubilant home crowd.

Pedrosa took over third from Ducati’s Nicky Hayden on the third tour of the 4.216-km road course, which demanded concentration to avoid the fate of so many riders who crashed on the weekend.

The third began a series of fast laps, each one quicker than the previous. On the fourth lap he passed his teammate Dovizioso, again with the fastest lap, with Spies one second ahead.

There was another fast lap on the sixth, which set up the pass for the lead. Pedrosa used the power of his Honda RC212V to pass by Spies just as they crossed the famed “Yard of Bricks” at start-finish ending the seventh lap.

Spies tried to stay with the Spaniard, but Pedrosa continued to lower his own fast lap mark on the eighth, ninth, and the 11th laps. The 11th would be the fastest of the race and would give Pedrosa a lead of 2.787s.

By the time he took his third checkered flag of the season the gap was 3.575s.

Dovizioso would fall prey to Lorenzo on the 12th lap. That put him in fourth, and he’d lose one more spot to Rossi on lap 20 of 28. The heat reduced grip levels significantly and Dovizioso couldn’t match his pace from qualifying. Still, he took over third in the championship just behind Pedrosa.