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Ben Spies quickest in damp first practice at Estoril

Ben Spies was quickest for Yamaha in a damp first practice session for MotoGP's Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril

For the second week in succession, Friday morning practice saw little activity as Jerez's tricky conditions were replicated in Portugal.

With the track never fully wet but too tricky for slicks until the closing minutes, for most of the morning the spectators just had a handful of CRT bikes to watch.

Spies was among the first of the big names to emerge, and by the end of the session 19 riders had been out to at least assess the conditions.

Nicky Hayden was quickest ahead of Valentino Rossi as the chequered flag fell, but Spies was still out on a quicker lap and came through with a 1m40.813s to deny Ducati a one-two.

Casey Stoner was fourth on the fastest Honda, followed by Gresini's Alvaro Bautista and the Tech 3 Yamahas.

Spies' championship leading team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was among those who chose to stay in the pits.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                 Time       Gap
 1.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                    1m40.813s
 2.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                    1m41.086s  + 0.273s
 3.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                    1m41.502s  + 0.689s
 4.  Casey Stoner      Honda                     1m41.943s  + 1.130s
 5.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             1m42.230s  + 1.417s
 6.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha             1m42.291s  + 1.478s
 7.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha             1m42.343s  + 1.530s
 8.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                     1m43.078s  + 2.265s
 9.  Yonny Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m43.256s  + 2.443s
10.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati            1m43.265s  + 2.452s
11.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             1m43.277s  + 2.464s
12.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda         1m43.511s  + 2.698s
13.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                 1m43.527s  + 2.714s
14.  Colin Edwards     Forward Suter-BMW         1m44.909s  + 4.096s
15.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia              1m45.148s  + 4.335s
16.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia             1m45.636s  + 4.823s
17.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia      1m46.004s  + 5.191s
18.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  1m46.271s  + 5.458s
19.  James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia         1m52.429s  + 11.616s
20.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati
21.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha

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