Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner lapped the 2.2-mile Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca road course in 1:21.806 during MotoGP Free Practice Three Saturday morning at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix. Not only was it he fastest time of the session, it was the fastest lap time to that point of the weekend. Stoner’s teammate Dani Pedrosa (1:21.823) and defending MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo (1:21.855) nearly matched Stoner’s pace, as the three have been at the top of the charts all weekend. The session ended on a scary note, however. Lorenzo took the checkered flag and stopped to do a practice start near the Turn Four area of the track, which MotoGP riders do at the end of most sessions. Lorenzo launched his Yamaha YZR-M1, but when he turned into Turn Five, the next corner, he was highsided violently from the machine. The Spaniard took a nasty tumble, and when he came to a stop immediately grabbed his upper left leg as if he was in considerable pain. Lorenzo eventually got up under his own power, but he accepted assistance from corner workers to walk out of the gravel trap. Once out of the gravel trap he began walking without assistance, and he was seen getting into the front seat of a track medical car, not an ambulance. Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California July 23 Free Practice Three Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Casey STONER, Australia (HONDA), 1:21.806 2. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:21.823 3. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:21.855, crash 4. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (HONDA), 1:22.222 5. Ben SPIES, USA (YAMAHA), 1:22.325 6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (HONDA), 1:22.356 7. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (DUCATI), 1:22.432 8. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), 1:22.647 9. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (SUZUKI), 1:22.840 10. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), 1:22.877 11. Colin EDWARDS, USA (YAMAHA), 1:23.062 12. Randy DE PUNIET, France (DUCATI), 1:23.080 13. Cal CRUTCHLOW, Great Britain (YAMAHA), 1:23.143 14. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (Honda), 1:23.513 15. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (DUCATI), 1:23.544, crash 16. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), 1:24.038 17. Toni ELIAS, Spain (HONDA), 1:24.056 18. Ben BOSTROM, USA (HONDA), 1:25.934 More, from a press release issued by Yamaha MotoGP Team: This morning’s final free practice of the 2011 Grand Prix of U.S.A ended abruptly for Yamaha Factory Racing rider Jorge Lorenzo. The reigning world Champion had pulled up for a practice start midway round the track, having accelerated away into a left hand corner he suffered a huge high side. A subsequent check from the medical centre has cleared him as fit and approved to race. Ben Spies made another step forward in practice this morning, The Texan improved on yesterday, taking a step forward in set up but still looking for improvements in corner entry for his Yamaha YZR-M1. Jorge Lorenzo 3rd 1’21.855 “That isn’t how I planned to finish the free practice. I am not sure yet why I crashed, I need to take the video from Dorna and study it as I was not going that fast. Anyway I am very sore especially in my hip but happy to be uninjured and will still be there to give 100% in qualifying this afternoon. Apart from the crash the morning session was good, the bike still needs more going into the corners but we are getting there.” Ben Spies 5th 1’22.325 “We’ve definitely got more in the bike and we made a step in the right direction. I’m pretty happy; we set our fastest lap with a lot of laps on the tyres which is good. We definitely need to improve the front setting still. I can feel it in the bike; I definitely know the potential is there. The bike is definitely going to be better over race distance than it is over one lap but we have to improve that one lap speed. We found something right at the end of the session but we just weren’t able to try it.”