Basketball antics for MotoGP stars

A host of MotoGP riders warmed up for the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix with a spot of basketball on Thursday, descending on the Conseco Fieldhouse – home court of the Indiana Pacers – where they received a lesson on how to shoot the perfect hoop from former NBA and pacers centre Rik Smits.

Repsol Honda duo Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso were joined by some home representation in the shape of Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Ben Spies, and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) and Marc Márquez (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) provided a Moto2 and 125cc presence as the towering 7’4” Smits gave them some tips on technique.

All managed varying degrees of success with Dovizioso particularly enjoying his experience. “The standard is not so high here so I look good!” said the Italian. “The stadium looks much bigger on the television so when you come here and see a tall guy like Rik Smits you can imagine how tough it is when they’re competing on the court.”

Looking ahead to the weekend the 24 year-old continued: “I love racing in America and our aim is to get a podium, which I think we have a chance of doing. In Brno we had the pace to fight for the podium, and I think we have a better package for here than we did last year. Our target is to fight for second position in the Championship.”