Ducati's Casey Stoner earned the top time in Friday's practice session at Laguna Seca.
The Laguna Seca USGP got underway on Friday with Ducati’s Casey Stoner earning the fastest lap during the hour-long MotoGP practice session. The Australian took an early lead with a time of 1'26:364, and later managed to reel in a lap of 1’21.699 late in the session to cement his time at the top of the timesheets. After coming to within seven-thousandths of a second to Stoner’s pace, Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo was unable to improve his time and had to settle for second in the session with 1'21.932.
Following Lorenzo was Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso, who earned third-place after busting out his fastest lap within the final five minutes of the session. Dovizioso’s teammate, Dani Pedrosa, who won the USGP round at Laguna Seca last year, took fourth-place on the timesheets with a time of 1'22.559. Rounding out the top-five times was Yamaha Tech 3 rider Ben Spies with a lap of 1’22.640, which came in the final three minutes of free practice.
Valentino Rossi continued to ride well despite his injured leg, taking sixth ahead of Ducati’s Nicky Hayden, who made a late charge to secure seventh in the books just behind The Doctor. Spies’ Yamaha Tech 3 teammate, Colin Edwards, earned eighth after being 1.272 seconds adrift of Stoner’s pace. Making it within the top-10 times were San Carlo Honda’s Marco Melandri and Aleix Espargo, taking ninth and tenth respectively. Melandri’s teammate, Marco Simoncelli, suffered an early crash in the session but was uninjured, and earned the 12th-fastest time of the day. Getting his first taste of the LCR Honda, Roger Hayden was the slowest rider in the session at 1'25.432.
2010 MotoGP Laguna Seca Practice Results:
1. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1'21.699
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1'21.932
Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo came close but in the end couldn't topple Stoner's best lap.
3. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 1'22.225
4. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1'22.559
5. Ben Spies (Yamaha) 1'22.640
6. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1'22.660
7. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 1'22.902
8. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1'22.971
9. Marco Melandri (Honda) 1'23.021
10. Aleix Espargaro (Ducati) 1'23.693
11. Mika Kallio (Ducati) 1'23.825
12. Marco Simoncelli (Honda) 1'24.002
13. Hector Barbera (Ducati) 1'24.326
14. Alex de Angelis (Honda) 1'24.615
15. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) 1'24.710
16. Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) 1'25.031
17. Roger Lee Hayden (Honda) 1'25.432
