Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rookie Ben Spies took his first ever pole position with a sizzling lap of the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, while fellow American Nicky Hayden earned his first front row start of the season, and first front row ever on the Ducati Marlboro Desmosedici, by qualifying third.
“To be pole, the first pole for me in front of the American crowd and here in Indy with all the history, it’s great,” Spies said. “And I’m glad for the Monster Tech 3 team. We made the announcement, obviously, Friday,” that he’d be moving to the Fiat Yamaha team next year, “so it’s kind of a monkey off my back and I feel a little bit more comfortable for the rest of the year, but also I’m trying to give as much as I can to them because they helped catapult me into that position.
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“We put it on the line, that last bit, and got it. To have, Nicky (Hayden) said, two Americans on the front row here is pretty incredible. I wouldn’t have thought it coming into the weekend, but to be able to do it. Now we just get a good start and give it everything we got and see what we can do, but I’ll enjoy today right now.”
The final two minutes were nail-biting for the home crowd, but nothing would change. Spies, who had his first ever front row at the previous Czech Grand Prix, now had his first pole. Lorenzo was second and Hayden third.
“Yeah, it’s actually my first front row on Ducati period, so I mean, only took a year and half,” Hayden quipped. “You know, I’m happy for it. It’s really important here for the race. My race pace, if I’m going to try fight in the lead group, I’m not going to start seventh or eighth and start picking them off. I’ve got to be there at the start.
The Repsol Honda team of Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa were fourth and fifth, respectively, with Hayden’s teammate Casey Stoner sixth fastest. Cycle News
The third row will be headed up by Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) and the Italian was left frustrated but uninjured when he fell at turn six with little over five minutes to go – his second fall of the day following an earlier one in practice. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) also had a crash in the final stages of the session but managed to secure eighth place, equalling his best qualification so far this season, with Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) completing the top ten.
Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team) was 13th in his first QP since returning from injury, whilst Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing) had a fall at turn 13 and eventually qualified in 14th. Motogp
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