Less than 24 hours after calling Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s newly-repaved 2.6-mile infield road course “terrible” and “one of the slipperiest tracks I’ve ever ridden on in my career,” Casey Stoner led MotoGP Free Practice Three Saturday morning with a new Circuit Best Lap Record time. Friday afternoon Stoner told reporters, “The track is terrible, to be honest. It’s slippery out there, very, very slippery. I think it’s one of the slipperiest tracks I’ve ever ridden on in my career.” At the same time, other riders, including Valentino Rossi and Ben Spies, were telling reporters that the track’s new surface was improving and providing normal levels of grip on the racing line. Then this morning Stoner piloted his Repsol Honda RC212V to a time of 1:39.538, which eclipsed Dani Pedrosa’s mark of 1:39.730 from 2009. Spies had been the session leader with a 1:39.923, just before Stoner did his fastest lap. Spies later improved his time to 1:39.670, also under the old record time, but ended up second-best on his factory Yamaha YZR-M1. Stoner’s teammate Pedrosa (1:39.896) was the only other rider to dip into the 1:39 bracket Saturday morning. FIM MotoGP World Championship Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis, Indiana August 27 Free Practice Three Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Casey Stoner, Australia (Honda), 1:39.538 2. Ben Spies, USA (Yamaha), 1:39.670 3. Dani Pedrosa, Spain (Honda), 1:39.896 4. Marco Simoncelli, Italy (Honda), 1:40.301 5. Andrea Dovizioso, Italy (Honda), 1:40.326 6. Colin Edwards, USA (Yamaha), 1:40.438 7. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain (Yamaha), 1:40.547 8. Valentino Rossi, Italy (Ducati), 1:40.698 9. Randy De Puniet, France (Ducati), 1:40.915 10. Alvaro Bautista, Spain (Suzuki), 1:40.916 11. Nicky Hayden, USA (Ducati), 1:41.067 12. Cal Crutchlow, Great Britain (Yamaha), 1:41.209 13. Loris Capirossi, Italy (Ducati), 1:41.496 14. Hector Barbera, Spain (Ducati), 1:41.512 15. Toni Elias, Spain (Honda), 1:41.676 16. Karel Abraham, Czech Republic (Ducati), 1:41.740, crash 17. Hiroshi Aoyama, Japan (Honda), 1:41.889