Helped by a nightmare opening lap for Ben Spies,
Casey Stoner cruised to his 30th
MotoGP victory in Sunday's
Indianapolis Grand Prix.
The Repsol Honda star dropped from pole to third on lap one - behind team-mate
Dani Pedrosa and title rival
Jorge Lorenzo - but that was nothing compared with the first-lap misery for Spies.
The only rider that looked capable of seriously challenging Stoner, Spies dropped from second to fifth off the line, was shuffled further back through the opening turns, then clipped the back of Dovizioso - leaving him ninth at the end of the lap.
Stoner went on to slipstream past Lorenzo's Yamaha along the home straight at the start of lap two, then repeated the pass to take the lead from Pedrosa on lap 7 of 26.
The Australian soon put several seconds between himself and Pedrosa, then monitored his advantage to the finish, aware of tyre endurance fears on the new, abrasive, asphalt.
Stoner, who had never previously finished on the podium at Indy, won his seventh race of the season by 4.828sec from Pedrosa.
Spies had fought his way up to fourth by the halfway stage, then passed team-mate Lorenzo for third at the start of lap 18, when he was the fastest rider on track.
But Pedrosa was already long gone and the Assen winner had to be content with the final place on his home podium.
Reigning world champion Lorenzo came under late pressure from Dovizioso for fourth and has now dropped from 32 to 44 points behind Stoner, with six rounds remaining.
While the frontrunners didn't seem to suffer any major tyre problems, there were some high-profile casualties - and plenty of 'marbles' offline.
Nicky Hayden's first race on the GP11.1 saw the American burst from eighth to fourth on the opening lap, but he was the only rider to choose the softer-option front and was ultimately forced to pit in the closing stages.