Casey Stoner kicked off the 2011 Red Bull USGP round in top form during Free Practice 1 Friday after piloting his Repsol Honda to a 1:22.300 around the shortest circuit on the MotoGP circuit, Laguna Seca.
Stoner’s time was a second slower than the Laguna Seca circuit record that the Australian set in the 2010 MotoGP Championship (1:21.376).
But a mere 0.102 of a second behind Stoner was his teammate, Dani Pedrosa, who arrives in Laguna after taking his second win of the MotoGP season in Germany last weekend (first win was Jerez).
And only 0.018 of a second behind Pedrosa was the reigning MotoGP Champion, Jorge Lorenzo. The Yamaha Factory Racing rider was victorious last year at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Ultimate MotorCycling | News and Reviews
The first American in the timings was Ben Spies on his Yamaha Factory Racing machine, posting a time of 1’22.806 to put him in fourth place. He was followed by the third Repsol Honda of Andrea Dovizioso, who was 0.105s behind Spies and just over half a second behind the leading lap set by Stoner.
Marco Simoncelli rode his San Carlo Honda Gresini into the sixth spot in the charts, with a lap time of 1’23.210, while Ducati Team rider Nicky Hayden began his session on his Ducati GP11, jumping to the top of the timings in the first ten minutes, then changed between the GP11 and GP11.1 on his subsequent outings. He finished the practice seventh with a best lap of 1’23.297, made on the GP11 bike.
On the other side of the Ducati box, Valentino Rossi had two GP11.1 Desmosedici machines, setting a time of 1’23.467 on one of them to put him in ninth position. The second fastest American in the field was Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) whose time of 1’23.459 ranked him eighth behind Hayden. motogp.com
| 
|