Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner once again followed his usual modus operandi of going out for a handful of laps for a few sessions, then quickly laying down a series of scorching fast laps that left the field playing catch-up at the opening Friday practice session for the MotoGP class at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo—who topped the timesheets for the first half of the hour-long session—was quickly up to speed, while Stoner came back into his pitbox from his first session clearly unhappy with his Desmosedici’s behavior. But the Australian quickly got things dialed in and rebounded to set the quickest time a little past the halfway point in the session at 1:21.133, a time that no one could approach until Lorenzo began creeping closer as the session wound down. But with five minutes to go, Stoner uncorked another scorcher, dropping his time to 1:21.699 despite getting held up on that lap. Lorenzo came close on his penultimate lap as the only other rider into the 21s with a 1:21.932 effort, while Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovisioso held down third spot over his teammate (and last year’s Red Bull USGP winner) Dani Pedrosa.
Ben Spies looked to be methodically getting everything dialed in as the session went on, loitering around the top five for the duration of practice, until he cut loose in the final minute to put himself in the fifth spot. A still-healing Valentino Rossi found that his shoulder was giving him more problems than his recently fractured leg around Laguna Seca, but still soldiered on to sixth place. Stoner’s teammate Nicky Hayden notched into seventh spot with a late effort, while Spies’ teammate Colin Edwards was right behind, only 0.069 seconds adrift. Hayden’s younger brother Roger Lee—filling in for the injured Randy de Puniet on the LCR Honda MotoGP machine—worked on getting to grips with a MotoGP bike after a two-year layoff, bringing up the rear of the field.
MotoGP Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca USA Friday practice results:
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 1:21.699
2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha 1:21.932
3. Andrea Dovisioso (ITA) Honda 1:22.225
4. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 1:22.559
5. Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha 1:22.640
6. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 1:22.660
7. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati 1:22.902
8. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 1:22.971
9. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 1:23.021
10. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Ducati 1:23.693
17. Roger Lee Hayden (USA) Honda 1:25.432