A cloudy morning and a slightly cold track (it was foggy earlier) met the MotoGP riders for the first free practice at Laguna Seca and it was Casey Stoner on his sixth lap out who set the lap to beat on the time charts with a 1.
22.
300.
Dani Pedrosa ran off track at turn 2 and then tipped over and had some difficulty in getting back on his bike early in the practice, but that didn’t stop him from setting the 2nd best time of the session and he was just 0.
1o2s from his team mate after pipping the spot from Jorge Lorenzo on his final lap.
Lorenzo was just 0.
120s from the Honda Repsol rider.
Fourth went to Ben Spies on his home track with the 50th Anniversary livery colors on his M1, and he was followed by Andrea Dovizioso in 5th.
Much slower than he usually is off the blocks was Marco Simoncelli in 6th and 0.
910s off pace.
Nicky Hayden’s used the his regular GP11 step2 for the first part of the session posting a lap time of 1.
23.
297 that let him finish in 7th and then switched to the new GP11.
1 for the first time and one of his laps was 1.
23.
718, but seemed that he signaled to his crewchief had troubles with the balance of the bike and had corner entry issues.
The eighth spot when to Colin Edwards followed by Valentino Rossi who is still lagging far behind in 9th and 0.
008s slower than Edwards and 1.
167s from Stoner.
Closing out the top ten was Alvaro Bautista.
Rookie Karel Abraham who is learning the track took the 16th spot and Hiroshi Aoyama was also learning the track because last year he missed the race due to the injuries he picked up during free practice at Silverstone was 17th, better than both Laguna Seca newbies was the other newbie Cal Crutchlow in 13th.
Ben Bostrom who knows Laguna Seca better than anyone else and on his first ride and practice with the LCR Honda RC212V was last and 4.
986s from the top of the chart.
MotoGP Laguna Seca FP1 results:01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – 1’22.
30002- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.
10203- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
12004- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
50605- Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.
61106- Marco Simoncelli – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 0.
91007- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 0.
99708- Colin Edwards – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
15909- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11.
1 – + 1.
16710- Alvaro Bautista – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 1.
22911- Hector Barbera – Mapfre Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
29612- Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
50713- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
71814- Toni Elias – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 2.
02415- Loris Capirossi – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 2.
26616- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 2.
38217- Hiroshi Aoyama – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 3.
02518- Ben Bostrom – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 4.
986