Ben Spies sets pace in first practice session for Indianapolis Grand Prix
Ben Spies set the pace in the opening free practice session for this weekend's Indianapolis Grand Prix with a storming lap in the final minute
The American, who is racing on home soil, had first hit the front on his Yamaha at the half-hour point with a lap in the mid 1m44s, but kept on improving and knocked Casey Stoner off the top spot after producing a 1m43.260s effort on his last flying lap.
Stoner's best lap - set a minute before the end - was 0.292s slower than that of Spies, but was something of a surprise as the world championship leader had been unable to make it any higher than sixth earlier on.
Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden made it three Americans in the top five on Tech 3 Yamaha and Ducati machinery respectively. Splitting the pair was Marco Simoncelli, who spent most of the session at the head of the timesheets, but slipped to fourth in the final two minutes.
With a new track surface having been laid ahead of the MotoGP event, riders worked to lay down rubber during the session. The result was that times improved by around 10s during the 45-minute session. The best time was still more than 3s off the lap record, however.
Valentino Rossi was sixth quickest for Ducati, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso's Honda and Hector Barbera's Aspar Ducati.
World champion Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa were surprisingly low down in ninth and 10th spots for Honda and Yamaha - each man significantly off the pace.
Cal Crutchlow twice went off the track on his Tech 3 Yamaha, but stayed on both times, while Karel Abraham was left out on-track when his Cardion AB Ducati ground to a halt at Turn 1 with 10 minutes to go.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m43.260s 2. Casey Stoner Honda 1m43.552s + 0.292s 3. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m43.574s + 0.314s 4. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m43.582s + 0.322s 5. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m44.236s + 0.976s 6. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m44.362s + 1.102s 7. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m44.551s + 1.291s 8. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m45.026s + 1.766s 9. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m45.065s + 1.805s 10. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m45.192s + 1.932s 11. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m45.249s + 1.898s 12. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m45.368s + 2.108s 13. Randy de Puniet Pramac Ducati 1m45.577s + 2.317s 14. Hiroshi Aoyama Gresini Honda 1m46.159s + 2.899s 15. Loris Capirossi Pramac Ducati 1m46.484s + 3.224s 16. Karel Abraham Cardion AB Ducati 1m46.643s + 3.383s 17. Toni Elias LCR Honda 1m47.507s + 4.247s
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