Points leader Fillmore rebounds with big win at Indy Grand Prix INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 28) Less than 24 hours after the worst day of his season, GEICO rider Chris Fillmore showed the racing world exactly why he’s the championship points leader in the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series by winning the Indianapolis Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Fillmore entered the twin-bill weekend with a comfortable 31-point advantage over championship rival Steve Rapp, but that cushion was literally taken out from under him when a part-time rider knocked him and his Bruce Rossmeyer’s Daytona Racing/Revolution Performance Harley-Davidson out of Saturday’s race on the final lap. “It wasn’t the best-case scenario,” said Fillmore, who had never finished off the podium until that race. “All I could do was put it behind me and focus on today.” Riding with purpose, Fillmore battled for every inch Sunday and posted the quickest lap when he needed it most — on the final circuit — to edge out Rapp by .168 seconds at the famous yard-of-bricks finish line. The victory moved his margin over Rapp to 12 points with just one race left next weekend in New Jersey. “I knew what I needed to do and figured if I could stay out front then I’d be in control of everything that happened,” Fillmore said. “I got the holeshot and just kept it pinned. Rapp and I went back and forth for quite awhile and Tyler (O’Hara) got in there as well. I even fell back to third at one point but I made a quick move and went right back to the front. That’s where I wanted to be. “I was hoping to dominate but those guys kept me honest. When we got down to two laps to go I went around Rapp on the outside of Turn 1 and really never looked back from there. He stayed close but I wanted that win more than anything.” Rapp finished second, and O’Hara third. Fillmore’s Richie Morris Racing teammates Mike Corbino and Kyle Wyman also had strong showings Sunday, with Corbino taking seventh and Wyman finishing ninth. Wyman currently holds down fifth place in the standings, while Corbino is seventh. The final event of the season takes place next Sunday at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, N.J. More, from a press release issued by FTR MOTO: FTR TAKES DOUBLE PODIUM IN INDIANAPOLIS FTR MOTO enjoyed its best race of the 2011 Moto2 World Championship season so far as Pol Espargaro finished runner-up and Esteve Rabat third in Sunday’s 11th round at Indianapolis, USA. Espargaro, 20, qualified in seventh place on the HP Tuenti Speed Up M211 before taking his fourth point-scoring finish of the year with second, holding off fellow Spaniard Esteve Rabat on the Blusens-STX FTR machine. Mattia Pasini finished eighth on the Ioda Racing Project M211 with his team-mate and fellow Italian Simone Corsi 14th after qualifying in a season-best second place and to continue his run of scoring World Championship points in every round of 2011. The MZ-FTRs of Max Neukirchner and Anthony West finished 24th and 26th respectively with Martin Cardenas replacing the injured Yonny Hernandez 28th on the Blusens-STX FTR. JD Beach, riding the Aeroport de Castello FTR M211, finished in 29th place with Speed Up’s Valentin Debise 30th, wild card Jacob Gagne 31st on the GP Tech M211 and Santiago Hernandez 33rd on the Stop and Go Team’s M211. Luckless Kenny Noyes (FOGI/GP Tech) suffered a crash in his home round as did Ratthapark Wilaroit on the Thai Honda Singha machine, both escaping injury. Corsi’s 14th place leaves him fifth in the World Championship, just three points behind third place while Rabat has moved into the top 10 for the first time this year and now sits in eighth place. “The Indianapolis results are what we’ve sort of being waiting for,” explained FTR’s Steve Bones. “Both Pol Espargaro and Esteve Rabat have threatened these kind of results but they’re now at a confident and comfortable stage with the M211 and I think that showed on Sunday. “And Mattia Pasini also showed consistency this weekend by qualifying in sixth and finishing eighth and scoring back to back points in the World Championship for the first time this year.