Barros laments painful hand

The d'Antin Ducati rider, who ended the day 16th fastest nearly 1.5 seconds behind Ducati's Casey Stoner, wounded his right hand in a crash at last week's race at Sachsenring, and regrets having tried to ride at Laguna Seca without pain killers.

"For me, it wasn't an easy day," he explained. "My hand was particularly painful and I wasn't able to ride well. Today I tried to ride without the aid of anaesthesia, but it was really impossible because I simply had too much pain.

"I was convinced that my hand was going to be a little better from last weekend, but now I know that I can't ride like I normally do, and for this reason I didn't get a good lap time."

The Brazilian, however, is confident that with the aid of pain killers he'll be able to do better with his Desmosedici GP7.

"Overall, I'm satisfied as regard the bike," he said. "We found a good set-up and the tires, too, worked very well. I'm confident that if I didn't have this injury I could achieve a better result.

"Anyway, tomorrow before the start of the session, I will take an anaesthetic injection so it's less painful. I'm confident for the race, but we still have big range to improve."