Nicky Hayden was thankful on two counts after his Indianapolis MotoGP weekend got off to a mixed start. The Kentucky rider was able to clock the third best time in opening practice to give his hopes of a third straight rostrum at the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway a big early boost. A lap of 1.41.405 saw Hayden beaten only by factory Ducati teammate Casey Stoner and dominant world championship leader Jorge Lorenzo.

But the American was fortunate not to aggravate the left wrist he damaged in a qualifying crash during the recent Czech Republic MotoGP in Brno when he tumbled again. Hayden lost the front-end of his factory Ducati GP10 and trying to avoid further damage to the left wrist he chipped in Brno, he suffered a nasty puncture wound on his left arm.

Explaining the crash he said: “It was rider error. I actually started out quite good and the bike felt good. I was going pretty decent times with had a hard tire on the rear. I put in a soft tire and felt quite a lot better immediately and started pushing the front a bit and made a little mistake. I got in a little bit hot and was just off line. With it being Friday afternoon I thought’ don’t try to force it.’ But thinking that I’d just run wide and just down I went. It is bumpy in that corner and off line is not good. But I went pretty easy.

“As soon as I went down, I think that’s how I hurt my arm, because I was trying to protect my wrist. I dug my elbow in and my arm got hot because it turned.”

Another stroke of fortune for Hayden was his factory Ducati GP10 suffered no significant damage. He was caught on TV replays sprinting to his stricken machine with the engine still running.

He added: “I got up and I heard it still running and took off after it and had to shut it down, because of the engine rules. I’ve already lost one engine. When I got over there the handlebar broke off and was up under it, so it wasn’t like I could just hit the button. I had to look and the handlebar was all spun around. There’s about two or three switches on that bar that look the same when it’s turned around backwards, so I had to start hitting buttons and finally shut it down.”

Casey Stoner reckons 70% of the Indianapolis circuit will need to be resurfaced ahead of the 2011 MotoGP at the iconic American venue. The 2007 world champion produced a promising start to the weekend when he logged the fastest time in opening practice with a 1.40.884 beating title favorite Jorge Lorenzo by o over 0.2s. But with Dorna and Indianapolis agreeing a new deal to bring MotoGP back in 2011, Stoner was critical at the condition of the circuit. Several other riders joined Stoner in expressing concern about a lack of grip and several bumps on the circuit, which uses part of the famous Indy oval course.

The 24-year-old, who missed last year’s Indianapolis race with illness, said: “One of the bumpiest circuits I’ve ever ridden is Silverstone. This is a shorter circuit but it’s rivaling it pretty well. It’s pretty bad. The surface definitely isn’t as world class as the venue. You go for a walk up to that last corner, you look at the entry point and looks like we’re going through someone’s garage. There’s concrete there and it’s not tarmac. And then all of sudden you come back into tarmac and then there’s a big seam there and it just doesn’t feel like a Grand Prix circuit at all.”

Stoner said the condition of the track had deteriorated considerably since he last rode at Indy in 2008.
He added: “I’d say it’s got worse than the other year on bumps. There are big cracks in the circuit and a lot of bumps. It’s not a circuit you can really just push the limit out of. It’s a circuit you just have to manage it by missing a bump to maybe go inside or outside. They need to resurface 70% of the track, simple as that. I think there’s a lot of national circuits around the world that are a heck of lot better than this in terms of the surface. This is a fantastic facility. It’s great to come here with the name Indianapolis, but the track’s not doing it justice.”

Stoner clocked his best time using a new set of 2011 spec Ohlins front forks but he refused to get too carried away despite his blistering start. Stoner has been fast on Friday numerous times in 2010 but has been unable to convert his early pace into a victory challenge come Sunday.

He said: “I guess today went okay. We started out testing quite well, we started out weekends well in the past, but unfortunately we’ve just not transferred it into a great result. So hopefully this weekend can be different. The new forks are very similar to the forks that we started out the beginning of the year. There are a few minor differences that maybe give us a little bit more feedback than what they did before and hopefully that can give us the difference. The forks we’ve been running since the beginning of the year have been fantastic, but on the particularly bumpy circuits it makes things a lot more difficult and we’re just trying to sort of solve those issues and hopefully these new forks can be the difference.”

Ben Spies is confident he will be able to mount a podium challenge in the Indianapolis MotoGP race on Sunday despite a late crash in opening practice. The Texan, who has been confirmed as Valentino Rossi’s replacement in the factory Yamaha squad for 2011, had to settle for eighth place in practice after he crashed out with just six minutes remaining. Prior to that late incident at Turn 6, the reigning World Superbike champion had been in impressive form. The 26-year-old had twice topped the timesheets in the opening 15 minutes and was a constant threat around the top five for the majority of the hour-long session.

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider said: “I’m actually pretty happy with that session even though it ended not so great with the crash. I’m not too upset because it was one of those crashes that I know what I did wrong. I slapped my face a little bit on the scooter on the way back to the box because I knew what I was doing was not going to work. I just chanced it but there’s a bump going into Turn 6. I knew I was turning in too early but I thought I'm not pushing the front hard enough to make a difference. But as soon as I hit he bump I lost the front. I missed the last five minutes and I definitely could have gone quicker because the bike was working good and I felt good. The main part of the session was good. I was right up there all the time but it was just one of those stupid crashes. I knew what was going on and I just made a mistake. But apart from the little mistake I had a good session and I did quite a lot of consistent fast laps and we have a lot of good data, on race tires. Everything worked besides me being an idiot for about five seconds but that stuff happens.”

Spies ended with a best time 1.41.722 to finish 0.838s behind Casey Stoner.

A lack of grip and a bumpy track surface at the world famous Indianapolis track left Valentino Rossi down in fifth place on the practice timesheets. The Italian only climbed into the top five in the closing stages as he struggled down in ninth for much of the session, which was run in gloriously sunny conditions. The reigning world champion ended with a best time of 1.41.623 to finish just 0.041s clear of American Colin Edwards in sixth.

But significantly Rossi was a massive 0.739s adrift of fastest rider Casey Stoner as he struggled to find a set-up with his Fiat Yamaha to absorb the Indy bumps. Rossi, who is still finding his way back to full fitness after breaking his right leg in Mugello in early June, said: “It was a difficult practice because this track is tricky. There’s no grip and a lot of bumps and it is difficult to ride here because the corners are wide, wide, wide and then close. It is difficult to take the right line and at the same time there are lots of different surfaces that doesn’t have very good grip and there are a lot of bumps. I feel good physically and we improve a lot with the shoulder and leg coming better. The problem is more the setting so we have to work more. We need to improve how the bike absorbs the bumps and the grip in acceleration because here it is very demanding for the edge of the tire and you need to have a good setting to save the tire for all the race.”

Jorge Lorenzo said he was unsure whether Casey Stoner could threaten to end his golden run in America at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday. Stoner has made a habit of starting strongly in Friday free practice but being unable to mount a strong victory challenge come Sunday’s race. And Spaniard Lorenzo, who is bidding for a third successive victory on US soil in Sunday’s 28-lap clash, said it would be interesting to see if the Aussie could challenge for his first win in over ten months.

Stoner edged out Lorenzo by 0.225s in an opening free practice session run in baking hot conditions at Indianapolis. And 23-year-old Lorenzo, who is looking to extend his commanding 77-point lead in the title race, said: “We started in quite good shape in second place with Casey making two explosive runs but he is always fast on Friday. We’ll see if he can continue this progression and he can improve his lap time for tomorrow. But I think everybody can improve by half-a-second or seven-tenths for tomorrow. Maybe he can go faster tomorrow but we will see.”

Lorenzo denied he would go for broke in Sunday’s race – round 11 of the 2010 MotoGP world championship. The double world 250GP champion is hunting an eighth win of the campaign but he said it was important to focus on the championship.

He added: “The main goal is to win the championship. Winning races is good but the important thing is to finish races and win the world title. It is a dream and something I didn’t expect to get before the championship and now I’m getting it and I enjoy it a lot these results.”

Colin Edwards is hoping to secure another season in the MotoGP world championship having made it clear in Indianapolis he wants to stay with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad. The Texan will make his 130th premier class start in Indianapolis this weekend and his future has been in doubt after a lackluster campaign. Edwards has been holding lengthy negotiations with Ducati in World Superbikes and flew to Bologna for talks prior to last month’s German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring. But that future avenue has disappeared with Ducati today confirming it was quitting the World Superbike championship.

Edwards, who scored his best result of 2010 with seventh place at the last round in Brno, said he was seriously contemplating a WSB return for the first time since 2002 because he wanted to end his career fighting for wins. But he wants to pen a new deal with Herve Poncharal’s Tech 3 Yamaha squad and partner British rider Cal Crutchlow. It seems Crutchlow’s move to MotoGP with Tech 3 is now a formality with Poncharal set for more talks with the 24-year-old’s manager Bob Moore in Indianapolis.

Edwards, who has never won a MotoGP race, said: “I would love to stay with Herve. I'd love to stay with Yamaha. That's my number one goal at the moment. We just need to try and make it happen. I think there are a couple chips that need to fall in the right place and I think it can happen.”
It has been rumored recently that Yamaha US was willing to bankroll part of Edwards’ deal to keep him on a YZR-M1 machine next season.

The Spanish-based Aspar Ducati squad is already locked in negotiations about expanding to a two-rider effort for the 2012 MotoGP world championship campaign. Jorge ‘Aspar’ Martinez confirmed his expansion plans when MotoGP reverts to a 1000cc four-stroke series for 2012 in Indianapolis. The Spaniard unveiled his ambitions after confirming he’s agreed terms to stay with Ducati in 2011.

Martinez said: “I am very happy to extend out contract with Ducati for another season. The relationship is magnificent so it is an honor for us to extend it. So far we have made an agreement for one more season but my objective is for us to continue into 2012 and expand to two riders. Conversations are underway although first of all we need to focus on getting sponsorship in place so that we can make a long term commitment.”

Martinez said he was delighted to have signed a new deal with Ducati so closely after Valentino Rossi completed his big money switch to the Bologna factory for 2011. Martinez said Rossi’s technical input would benefit any team running a Ducati machine and he added: “Aside from this we have the news that Valentino Rossi has signed for Ducati. The Desmosedici is already one of the best bikes on the grid and I'm sure that with his input it will be even better and more manageable. His collaboration will benefit us a lot because I am sure we will have the same bike."

It is not clear yet whether Hector Barbera will remain with the Aspar Ducati squad. His current number one Moto2 rider and reigning 125GP world champion Julian Simon impressed when he tested a factory Ducati GP10 at Jerez earlier this season.