The 2007 World Champion won an exciting opening practice duel with Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo to top the timesheets with a quickest time of 1’21.699. That put him clear of series leader Lorenzo even though the Australian was not entirely happy with the set-up of his factory Ducati GP10. The 24-year-old, who hasn’t won a race since the Malaysian Grand Prix last October, struggled to find stability on the brakes despite his scorching pace.

Stoner, who dominated at Laguna Seca in 2007, said: “I didn’t think it was anything really that great until maybe ten minutes ago. We saw we were close enough to the lap record. In general the bike felt pretty good today. We still have to improve a little bit on the front end to try and get a little more stability on the brakes. We seem to be having problems when the rear tire comes off the ground and touches again. There are quite a few braking bumps around the track this year in three particular corners and that is a huge difference from last year.”

“The track’s really deteriorated quite a lot,” continued Stoner. “And there are particular corners that sort of make it very difficult. We’re trying to get our set-up to work around those corners, but we’re losing a little bit in others. So we’re just going to have to make do with the bike being a little bit unstable and try to make the bike work a little better and turn a little better in a lot of the corners.”

Ominously for his rivals, Stoner reckons he’s got plenty more in reserve for the rest of the weekend.

“It’s possible to improve a lot,” said Stoner. “The grip seems quite good this year. The bumps are the biggest issue at the moment but definitely I’ve got a few tenths in myself, and a few tenths in the bike. If we can work everything together and become a little more comfortable, then we can go a fair bit faster.”

Home favorite Nicky Hayden, who won the Laguna Seca race in 2005 and ’06, was a massive 1.203 seconds behind the Aussie in seventh-place. Hayden said his biggest problem was finding a good gearbox setting.

“We’ve got to change the gearbox a little bit,” remarked Hayden. “Normally, with the new engines this year we pretty well had it calculated really close, but today we missed it a little bit. So hopefully we can change that. This is a tough place for the gearbox because it’s so much second and third gear. So we’ll definitely change that. Actually the bike wasn’t too bad. It was relatively close out of the gate. I know seventh isn’t where we wanted to be, but we’re not going to go home. Some of the races this year where I’ve been fast on Friday haven’t been good. Assen and last week in Germany I was third on Friday and that was about as good as it got. So hopefully tomorrow we can do a big step.”

Valentino Rossi returned from injury in glorious fashion at last weekend’s German MotoGP at the Sachsenring with a stunning fourth-place. But hopes that he would continue to build on that form at Laguna this weekend hit a speed bump.
 
It is still only seven weeks since the factory Yamaha rider suffered a compound fracture of his right tibia in a horrific practice crash at Mugello last month. And Rossi found negotiating the right-handers at Laguna Seca a tough proposition, with his inability to put too much pressure through his leg to change direction his primary concern. The problem was worst at the famous Corkscrew section, where Rossi has to put extreme pressure on his pinned right leg to flick his YZR-M1 quickly into the downhill right section.

“It is a bit more difficult here compared to Sachsenring, especially for my leg and also a little for my shoulder,” said Rossi. “What I am feeling is that the Corkscrew is a little more difficult physically to stop the bike, but especially when I go down to change direction and I have to push on the right leg, I have some pain. Now I will put some ice on the leg and relax and hope that tomorrow it is not worse. At the same time I don't think we showed all our potential on the track because we made a modification at the end of the session and I was able to do just two laps and then took the flag, so it would have been interesting if I had one or two extra laps. At the end I used the hard tire but today it was a little too hard, so maybe with the soft it was possible to go faster.”

Rossi ended with a best time of 1’22.660 to finish 0.961 seconds adrift of Casey Stoner, and he admitted the Australian’s early speed was ‘worrying’. The nine-time World Champion added: “The 21.6 by Stoner is a great lap time and he is already faster than the pole position of last year and this is a worry for everybody.”

Texan Ben Spies ended opening practice in fifth-place but he was just shy of one second away from fastest rider Casey Stoner as the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha squad took delivery of a small engine upgrade in California. Spies clocked a best time of 1’22.640 to finish just 0.081 seconds behind Dani Pedrosa, but the 26-year-old said the upgraded YZR-M1 motor specification was a small step in performance. Spies is confident he can be a threat for a podium finish in his home race.

“It is funny but I know this track so well, yet having not been here for a while it took me a bit of time to remember it," joked Spies. "I'm pretty happy to be in the top-five after the first session and I'm also pleased with the lap times by the end. Coming home and being in front of my home crowd, I can't be disappointed with my position after the first day. I'm sure we can make the bike a lot better because I had a couple of small issues that are easy to fix. I want the bike to absorb the bumps a little better but it is nothing that is really holding me back too much. We got an upgrade and I'm grateful to Yamaha for that and I'm definitely in the ballpark for the rest of the weekend. I need a few tenths per lap but I think I can be much closer to the front tomorrow. At the end I put in a string of laps that weren't super-fast, but I was really consistent and I'm happy with that.”

Fellow Texan Colin Edwards was perhaps the happier of the two with the performance improvement as he ended the session in eighth-place. The 36-year-old had posed a top-five threat for long periods but a best time of 1’22.971 was just 0.069 seconds away from fellow American Nicky Hayden on the factory Ducati.

The double World Superbike Champion said: “I'm really happy to be back on home soil and racing in front of the American fans and I'm also happy because the practice session went pretty good. The track felt the cleanest it has ever done on the first day and I was happy with the bike and able to show more of my true potential. I started on the soft front and rear tire and I wasn't able to turn as good as I wanted, but right at the end we switched to the hard options and I went almost half-a-second faster. I've already made my mind up to use the hard front for the race and I'm sure with some more changes we'll be able to get some more feeling. But the hard tire gives me more confidence. I'm happier with the performance of the bike too and I want to say a big thanks to Yamaha for giving me their support as always. The improved specification just makes it feel easier and more comfortable to do the lap time and I'm confident of a strong weekend.”

The youngest brother of 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden, Roger Lee, clocked a best time of 1.25.432 to finish 0.401s behind Alvaro Bautista’s factory Suzuki GSV-R.

Hayden, who is riding for injured Frenchman Randy de Puniet on the LCR Honda RC212V machine, said: “It was quite an adjustment for me. It took a little while to get used to the tires because it took so long before they came. And trying to build confidence in them took me a little longer than I would have liked. It’s only a one-hour session on a GP bike and I was only 0.4 seconds off and I don’t think it's really too bad for a start. We’re not here to try to win the race, so I just kind of took my time, worked on a few things and then tonight we can look at the data.”

"With Randy he uses a lot more front brake than I do going into the corner,” continued the youngest Hayden. “So I was having trouble getting in because it didn’t have enough weight on the front, so tomorrow we’ll try to put a little more weight on the front and try to get into the corner better. Right now I don’t get in the corner and then it just messes up the exit and everything. But I had fun, I enjoyed it and I'm just glad to be able to see some people in front of me and have something to shoot for now.”

Hayden, who has been released by his Pedercini Kawasaki World Superbike squad for the Laguna Seca clash, said he was amazed at the adjustments that can be made with electronics and he added: “The bike’s been really good and the team, they can change a lot with the data like with the wheelie and less spin in every single corner. If we had more time to work with what I like, I think we could make a lot of improvements quick, but it’s just amazing the stuff that they can do with electronics now.”

Hayden has previous MotoGP experience at Laguna Seca, having finished 10th in his premier class debut in 2008 riding a factory Kawasaki ZX-RR.

Jorge Lorenzo, who has not finished below second-place in the opening eight races of the campaign, could not compete with Stoner’s blistering pace in opening practice at the spectacular California circuit yesterday.

The 23-year-old clocked a best time of 1’21.932 but could only get to his factory Yamaha YZR-M1 machine to 0.233 seconds of Stoner’s impressive best. And the double world 250GP champion admitted that Stoner’s early form was an ominous sign for Sunday’s 32-lap race.

Lorenzo, who finished third in Laguna Seca 12 months ago despite a massive qualifying crash, said: “Casey was really fast on Friday and he arrives at the maximum very quickly. Normally he improves a little bit less than the others but I can see him with a lot of confidence on the bike, so I see him as a big rival for this race. He is very strong here and we will have to work hard to catch him!”

Lorenzo, who has won five races in 2010, said he was still not completely confident in the circuit after he suffered heavy crashes in ’08 and ’09.

“I still don’t have the perfect feeling,” said Lorenzo. “It will be important to be patient and not to be crazy because this track is special, it can be dangerous so I will try to be calculated and also be competitive.”