Jorge Lorenzo took a commanding victory in the United States Grand Prix after Dani Pedrosa crashed out of the lead at the one-third distance at Laguna Seca.The Yamaha rider's sixth win of the season helped him to increase his world championship lead to 72 points over his fellow the Spaniard Pedrosa.
Pedrosa, who started in fourth, seized the lead into the Andretti hairpin on the first lap after making another of his now customary rocket starts, and held an early advantage of over a second over the Casey Stoner and Lorenzo.
However, he lost the front end of his Honda entering the uphill Turn Five on the 11th lap and slid off into the gravel trap, his machine somersaulting several times before hitting in the tyre barrier.
That left Lorenzo, who had passed through Stoner's Ducati on lap five, with a lead of almost three seconds. He was able to control his pace for the rest of the race and took the chequered flag a similar margin ahead of the Australian, who scored his best result of the 2010.
Yamaha's Valentino Rossi took the final podium spot on what was his second race back after injury. The seven-times world champion passed Andrea Dovizioso's Honda at the final corner with the seven laps left and, after running side-by-side with his rival along the start/finish straight, swept around him before the Andretti Hairpin.
| Pos | Rider | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 43m54.873s |
| 2 | Casey Stoner | Ducati | + 3.517s |
| 3 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | + 13.420s |
| 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Honda | + 14.188s |
| 5 | Nicky Hayden | Ducati | + 14.601s |
| 6 | Ben Spies | Tech 3 Yamaha | + 19.037s |
| 7 | Colin Edwards | Tech 3 Yamaha | + 40.721s |
| 8 | Marco Melandri | Gresini Honda | + 47.219s |
| 9 | Loris Capirossi | Suzuki | + 52.812s |
| 10 | Mika Kallio | Pramac Ducati | + 52.814s |
| 11 | Roger Lee Hayden | LCR Honda | + 1m14.089s |
| 12 | Alex de Angelis | Interwetten Honda | + 1m14.666s |
