Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo earned pole position for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix with a fast lap of 1:21.678 on his Bridgestone-shod YZR-M1 during qualifying Saturday afternoon at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. But the 22-year-old Spaniard crashed twice during the hour-long session, and the second crash, a spectacular highside in Turn 10, resulted in a trip to the track’s medical center to investigate his injuries. Lorenzo’s teammate and reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi saved his best lap, a 1:21.845, for his last and earned the second spot on the front row of the grid. Immediately after the session, Rossi said he was happy with his qualifying result because he has been struggling somewhat to perfect the set-up of his Yamaha and to get faster in the last segment of the track. Earning the third and final spot on the front row was 2007 MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner, who turned a best lap of 1:21.910 on his Marlboro Ducati Desmosedici GP09. But on Stoner’s final qualifying run he was highsided off his machine in Turn Three. Initially, it looked bad for Stoner, as medical crews rushed to his aid, but shortly after the session the 23-year-old Australian was seen walking to the Mobile Clinica and was then listed as “Rider OK” by MotoGP. The second row of the grid was filled by a tight trio of Honda riders. When the session ended, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa (1:22.113) and Andrea Dovizioso (1:21.135) and San Carlo Gresini Honda’s Toni Elias (1:22.146) were separated by 0.03 second. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards earned the honor of Top American as his 1:22.490 (seventh) topped countryman Nicky Hayden’s 1:22.540 (eighth). Those positions were a big improvement for both riders, considering they have spent much of the weekend outside the top 10 and both crashed during Saturday morning practice. Joining the Americans on the third row was Chris Vermeulen (1:22.633), who bounced back from two crashes so far this weekend, including a big highside Saturday morning, to qualify ninth. Rounding out the top 10 qualifiers was Vermeulen’s teammate Loris Capirossi (1:22.662), who hasn’t crashed this weekend but has suffered through mechanical problems and set-up issues. Update: An unconfirmed report from the track’s medical center says that Lorenzo has suffered a dislocated collarbone, but he has been passed fit to ride by medical officers. Stay tuned for more details. Second Update: In the post-qualifying press conference, Lorenzo said that he had a dislocated right collarbone and a broken toe on his right foot. He said that he would try to ride during the morning warm-up tomorrow. FIM MotoGP World Championship Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California July 4, 2009 Qualifying Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), 1:21.678, crashed twice 2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 1:21.845 3. Casey Stoner (Ducati), 1:21.910, crash 4. Dani Pedrosa (Honda), 1:22.113 5. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda), 1:22.135 6. Toni Elias (Honda), 1:22.146 7. Colin Edwards (Yamaha), 1:22.490 8. Nicky Hayden (Ducati), 1:22.540 9. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki), 1:22.633 10. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki), 1:22.662 11. Marco Melandri (Kawasaki), 1:22.842 12. Alex De Angelis (Honda), 1:23.004 13. Sete Gibernau (Ducati), 1:23.106 14. Randy De Puniet (Honda), 1:23.147 15. James Toseland (Yamaha), 1:23.390, crash 16. Niccolo Canepa (Ducati), 1:23.912, crash 17. Gabor Talmasci (Honda), 1:24.528 More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: FIAT YAMAHA TAKE ANOTHER QUALIFYING ONE-TWO BUT LORENZO SUFFERS IN LATE CRASH Jorge Lorenzo secured his fourth pole position of the season at Laguna Seca today for tomorrow’s US Grand Prix despite crashing twice during the qualifying session, the second accident leaving him with an Acromial Clavicular Separation to the right side and a contusion to the right foot. He is hopeful for tomorrow but will be reassessed in the morning before taking a final decision on whether or not to race. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi secured second after a last-minute improvement which edged Casey Stoner, who also crashed in the final minutes, into third. This morning was much cooler than yesterday but Lorenzo continued strongly and topped the time sheets for the second free practice session. Rossi meanwhile struggled a little on the colder track and could only manage third. The sun finally came out at lunchtime and qualifying was run in temperatures more similar to yesterday, Lorenzo quickly claiming the top spot and remaining there for the majority of the session. With twenty minutes to go the Spaniard lost the front at turn ten and slid out for the first time but he was unhurt and raced back to the pits to change bikes. Whilst he was off track Stoner moved into provisional pole but Lorenzo showed there were no ill effects of the crash just ten minutes later by re-taking the top spot. However with just three minutes to go the 22-year-old crashed again in the same section of the track and was less lucky this time, being taken immediately to the circuit clinic for examination. The damage to his right shoulder area, although painful, is not dangerous and he is hoping to ride tomorrow but will wait until the morning before making a decision. Rossi found the going today somewhat harder than yesterday and was unable to find the perfect setting for his M1, losing time particularly in the final sector of the 3.6km track. In the last ten minutes the World Champion was constantly improving his time but not enough to move from third position, where he sat behind Stoner and Lorenzo. His last flying lap, although not enough for pole, was an improvement however and he moved into second, 0.167 seconds off his team-mate. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 1st Time: 1’21.678 Laps: 27 “I was trying to push but first I had some traffic and then the tyres were cold, and I wasn’t in the right shape to try to improve my time. I’m disappointed for these two crashes but I am okay and I am optimistic that I will be able to ride tomorrow. Now the American doctors and the Clinica Mobile are working together to try to help me as best they can and make me more comfortable. Thanks to all the American people here for their support!” Valentino Rossi Position: 2nd Time: 1’21.845 Laps: 34 “Firstly I want to say that I hope Lorenzo and Stoner are okay for the race tomorrow, because it should be a great battle between the three of us. I am happy about this session because we have had two practices today when we haven’t been in perfect shape and we have struggled in some areas, especially in the last sector where we are still not strong enough. I was finding it quite hard to ride at the maximum there today and control the bike how I wanted, so we need to try to improve a bit more. It depends how the other two are but I hope they’re okay and then we can have an exciting race.” Ramon Forcada Crew Chief “It’s a pity for these two crashes because Jorge was riding very well today. The first one was with a brand new hard front tyre and the second was due to the fact that he made two laps quite slowly and the rear tyre was cold, so when he started riding fast he crashed. Jorge made a very good job throughout the session and the pole position is a sign that he was feeling good. Luckily he is not too bad so we have to just look forward to tomorrow morning, when we can assess his condition and make a decision. Hopefully he will be on the starting grid tomorrow and we will see an exciting race.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “The first row is positive but we still have some small improvements to make for the race tomorrow. We’re very close but we can still be better so we will work tonight to try and make another step. It will be hard to check our changes in the warm-up because it will be cold, but we will try our best! Jorge and Casey both had big crashes but luckily it doesn’t look like anything too serious so we hope that they will be fit to race tomorrow. We wish them both our best!” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Bruised Vermeulen battles to the third row at Laguna Rizla Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen fought through the pain barrier during this afternoon’s qualifying practice at Laguna Seca in America, to earn himself a third row start for tomorrow’s U.S. GP. Vermeulen (P9, 1’22.633, 34 laps) suffered a huge high-side crash at the end of this morning’s practice session that left the Australian with heavy bruising all down his left side, but thankfully no broken bones. Vermeulen showed consistent race pace throughout both of today’s sessions and is sure that he has enough speed to run towards the front in tomorrow’s race. Loris Capirossi (P10, 1’22.662, 33 laps) made some huge steps towards the end of this afternoon’s qualifying as he finally found a setting he was more comfortable with on his Suzuki GSV-R. He qualified just 0.029 seconds behind team-mate Vermeulen and within a second of pole-setter Jorge Lorenzo. Capirossi is confident that he has turned a corner and can be competitive in tomorrow’s race. Tomorrow’s 32-lap race is round eight of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship and the show will get on the move at 14.00hrs local time (21.00hrs GMT). Chris Vermeulen: “I managed to stay upright this afternoon for a whole hour, so that was a first for this weekend and the mechanics are also very pleased about that! Firstly though, I want to thank my crew because they worked so hard between sessions today after I wrecked a bike this morning. The crew has done a great job and managed to get the bike ready for this afternoon. When we went out we made quite an improvement and took some big steps in lap-times. I was able to do the lap-times very consistently and I think we can do that tomorrow in the race. We still need to find a bit more pace to be right at the front, but the front feeling certainly got better today, although we are still looking for a bit more rear grip. We still have a couple of things to work on tomorrow morning, but we should be in good shape for the race. I am a bit disappointed to be on the third row as I feel like I had the pace to be nearer the front of the grid. It will be important to get a good start and get right up there early on and work on things from there.” Loris Capirossi: “I think we tried to do too much in the first two sessions of this weekend and I felt more like a test rider because I really tested everything we had and we never really found anything that worked. Then, this afternoon, we went back to a more standard setting like we have used in the past, and we finally got a rhythm and improved lap-by-lap. It is still not great and to be 10th on the grid is not that good, but compared to where we were yesterday, and after this morning, it is a lot better. The thing is that we have really lost a couple of hours of testing and now we will find it hard to make any improvements in warm-up tomorrow morning because the conditions will still be a bit cold. I am really positive for the race because we have improved so much and we will have to wait and see what can happen tomorrow.” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “The grid positions were not what we were looking for, but in the context of what has happened this weekend it is not too bad and we now have a decent base for the race tomorrow. Chris had a huge crash on a cold tyre this morning, which – unfortunately for them – was replicated this afternoon by Lorenzo and Stoner. Although Chris didn’t break anything he is heavily knocked about and has done very well to get back out there and push as hard as he did. “Loris has had a horrible weekend up to qualifying and only managed to turn the corner with the bike’s setting in this afternoon’s session. To come from where he was and almost equal Chris’s lap-time – and get within a second of pole – is a good effort and if he can build his confidence on the brakes in warm-up tomorrow, I am sure he will be pushing hard for a good result in the race.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Edwards to start home challenge from third row A strong finish from Colin Edwards in another fiercely contested MotoGP qualifying session helped the American claim a place on the third row of the grid for his home race at Laguna Seca. Edwards, who has yet to qualify lower than the third row in an impressive start to 2009, will start tomorrow’s 32-lap race from seventh position after he clocked a best time of 1.22.490. Despite encountering front-end issues on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1, the 35-year-old was just over half-a-second away from thrilling a large Independence Day crowd in California with a front row start. Edwards, who lost most of the fingernail off the third finger on his right hand in a heavy crash at Turn 10 in overcast and cooler conditions this morning, is confident he become only the 14th rider in history to score points in 100 Grand Prix races tomorrow to maintain his challenge for fourth place in the world championship. A crash at the final corner just 15 minutes into the session dented James Toseland’s hopes of securing a third consecutive top ten grid position. The British rider lost the front-end at the left-hander, and riding his spare YZR-M1 machine for the rest of the session, he was unable to find a comfortable front-end setting as he finished in 15th position with a best time of 1.23.390. Colin Edwards 7th 1.22.490 28 laps “The bike felt better than yesterday but I’m still not completely happy and I’ve still got a few issues to iron out before the race. I made a mistake this morning and did a bit of damage to a finger on my right hand, but nothing that is giving me too many problems. It wasn’t fun though high-siding at Turn 10 because that’s not a slow corner. I was on my head and then my back, so just to take a fingernail off I feel pretty lucky. But the big issue is the feeling from the front-end. I’ve got too much movement and as soon as I go into the corner it doesn’t feel stable at all. To be seventh I’m pretty happy because I didn’t feel like I could push as hard as I want or need to. But if I can eliminate a couple of problems in the warm-up I’m confident of a good race. I know it is going to be tough to get a podium tomorrow but I’ll be giving it my all for the American fans and for Monster. There are a lot of people here to support me on a big weekend for America and I’m determin ed to give them a good result.” James Toseland 15th 1.23.390 27 laps “It was a tough session and pretty obvious that we’ve got a lot of work to do. After such a good race in Assen when we made massive progress with the set-up of the bike, I just can’t get the same confident feeling I had last weekend. I wasn’t pushing too hard at the last corner when the front tucked and I was down. I was running a different setting on the front and I never really felt comfortable with it. The crash forced me to switch to the spare bike and we tried a new setting on the front and it just didn’t really work. I’m nowhere near where I expected to be and that is disappointing. But as always I’ll be working as hard as ever with my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 to find some improvements for the race.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER ON FRONT ROW AS HAYDEN SECURES SEASON BEST START Ducati MotoGP Team riders Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden were in competitive form in qualifying practice for the USGP at Laguna Seca today, with the Australian sealing a front row start for tomorrow’s race and the American qualifying on the third row in eighth place the best grid position of his debut season with the Italian factory so far. However, it wasn’t all plain sailing for Stoner, who crashed out heavily at the end of the session. The 2007 World Champion is nevertheless confident he will be able to ride tomorrow although he is expecting a gruelling race, not least because of the physical exhaustion he has been suffering in recent weeks. Hayden can also expect a tough battle in an intense mid-pack, with less than half a second separating him from the man in fourth on the grid and three riders within three tenths just behind him. CASEY STONER (Ducati MotoGP Team) (3rd; 1’21.910) “To be honest the bike had given us a few warnings in a lot of places around the circuit today and I’m sure there were a lot of other guys in a similar situation. The tyre is quite hard on the right-hand side and needs a couple of laps to warm up properly. Unfortunately on the lap before the crash, in the most important corner for heating that side of the tyre up I was held up by two riders having a disagreement and then I got stuck behind one of them into the next right-hander too. I was wary that the tyre would be cooler than I needed it to be on the next lap so I went into turn three a lot more carefully than normal, but as I closed the gas on the way into the corner the rear just came around. I tried to pick the bike up and go straight into the gravel but it didn’t want to and that was it it threw me straight up in the air! It hurt when I landed but I thought I’d only winded myself – now it looks like I might have torn something in my groin, which is not the best thing to happen before the race. Anyway, we have a great bike for this track so we’ll see what we can do.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati MotoGP Team) (8th; 1’22.540) “I’m happy with that. I know eighth place is nothing to write home about but it’s a big result for us and I’m relieved after yesterday. The data guys did a good job and we made a good step with the mapping this morning that allowed me to come off the corners a lot better. I had a crash at the end of free practice that set us back a little bit but we got it together for qualifying this afternoon and at the end there it looked like I might steal P6, which I would have been real happy with. We slipped back to eighth but considering that we usually lose positions from free practice to qualifying, to make some up today is pleasing. It got pretty gnarly at the end of the session there, a lot of guys were crashing and there were yellow flags everywhere. People thought getting rid of qualifying tyres would make things safer but when grid positions are as important as they are at a circuit like this you’re going to have guys hanging it out for a fast lap on a race tyre, and that ain’t so safe! I don’t remember a dry qualifying session with so much carnage at the end and it’s something we need to look at.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: SIXTH ROW FOR CANEPA IN THE US GRAND PRIX Hard day of work for the Pramac Racing Team and its rider Niccolò Canepa. In the first hour available of the day the Italian rider, thanks to the support of his track engineer tried to adapt the bike to make it easier to manage on the American track. In the afternoon, after only a few laps, the Genovese rider has slipped and lost a lot of time to get back at the garage. Once back on the second bike he took some time to get used to the circuit concluding in sixteenth position that means the sixth row for tomorrow’s race. Niccolò will do all possible tomorrow morning during warm up to improve his final position in the American race. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Team Technical Director “This morning we have done a good job registering interesting lap times with any bike configuration, but from the afternoon session we expected a bit more. For sure the slip at the beginning of the session took away some confidence from the rider. Now we have to analyze the telemetry and together with Niccolò we will evaluate which could be the best solution for tomorrow’s warm up in preparation for the race.” Niccolò Canepa – Pramac Racing Rider – 16th best lap time in 1’23.912 “We could have done well today, but the slip at the beginning of the session complicated the program of work we had in mind. I lost too much time to get back at the garage and once back on the bike I used some time to find back the right confidence to push at the limit. Unluckily, as it happened to Lorenzo and Stoner, the right part of the rear tyre doesn’t make it to keep the right temperature and you can find yourself on the ground at any moment. For this reason tomorrow we will almost for sure use the softer tyres we have here.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: REPSOL HONDAS STRONG IN LAGUNA QUALIFYING Two hundredths of a second was all that separated Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso in today’s dramatic qualifying session for the U.S. Grand Prix. The pair will head the second row of the grid for tomorrow’s 32-lap race at the spectacular Laguna Seca circuit after finishing in fourth and fifth places – both riders less that half a second from pole position. Pedrosa initially completed a 12-lap run at the beginning of this afternoon’s session, confirming his choice of Bridgestone race tyres and working with his crew on further adjustments to his machine set-up. In the closing moments of the hour he lowered his best lap time to 1m 22.113s, a mark just 0.022s ahead of his Repsol Honda team-mate. The Spaniard, who took second place on his debut MotoGP race here in 2006, will use tomorrow’s warm-up to make final setting adjustments and is confident of getting away with the leaders. Dovizioso also chose to put in a long run as qualifying got under way this afternoon, lapping consistently in the 1m 22s bracket during an unbroken 17-lap outing. The Italian was also strong in the closing stages and looked capable of taking a place on the front row, but he had to slow on his fastest laps as yellow flags came out late in the session for a series of crashes. Still, Dovizioso is positive about his chances when the lights go out tomorrow. It was an unfortunate session for Jorge Lorenzo, who set pole position before suffering a heavy fall. The Spaniard hopes to make the start tomorrow. The US Grand Prix – round eight of the 17-race MotoGP World Championship – begins at 14.00 following a 20-minute warm-up session in the morning. DANI PEDROSA 4th 1m 22.113s “We started this afternoon’s session really well and were able to lap consistently quickly straight away. Towards the end it became a little bit more difficult to improve the lap times because they tyres weren’t quite getting up to temperature and it was easy to make a mistake – we saw a few crashes out there later in the session. Fourth on the grid is not bad – I would have liked to be on the front row of course but fourth is ok. For tomorrow I’d like to improve our race pace by about three tenths per lap and that’s what we’ll work on in the warm-up. We did a lot of laps today on the tyres we’re planning to race on and this was one of our targets this weekend so I’m satisfied with that. It’s a short lap here and there isn’t any chance to rest which is going to make it a tough race tomorrow. You have to stay very focused and concentrated because it’s easy to make a mistake. In the sessions today I was mostly riding on a clear track, so I’m confident that if I can get away with the front group then this will help my rhythm and pace even more.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 5th 1m 22.135s “As I expected this afternoon, with the higher temperatures and using the hard Bridgestones, I could improve my lap times by a decent amount over this morning. That’s good because these are the tyres we’ll use for the race and we’re in pretty good shape. I think I have a good race pace and starting from the second row is not bad. Towards the end of qualifying I think I could have gone even quicker with the last soft tyre but I was on track when Lorenzo crashed so I had to slow down because there were yellow flags. Anyway I’m happy with qualifying and tomorrow we’ll aim to make a good start and stay with the leaders. In the heat of the race I think I should be able to grit my teeth and shave a few more tenths from my lap time too. This track is really special and the atmosphere here is unique, so and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s race. I hope we can be competitive and give the team a strong result before we head back to Europe.” KAZUHIKO YAMANO – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “Both riders did a good job in qualifying today, and the closeness of their times shows that they’re making the most of the machine package. Dani and Andrea have made consistent progress in each of the sessions so far here, improving the set-up step by step, and this has brought us to a point where we’re looking in a strong position for tomorrow. Also, we know that both riders can find a little extra on race day, so the Team’s looking forward to good results at Laguna tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgstone: Lorenzo takes pole in close qualifying session Round 8: United States GP Qualifying Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Saturday 4 July 2009 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard. Rear: Medium, Hard Jorge Lorenzo claimed pole for tomorrow’s US GP, finishing 0.167 seconds ahead of teammate Valentino Rossi. Both Fiat Yamaha riders used a hard front Bridgestone and a medium compound rear. Completing a front row of the usual suspects, Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner was third but opted for hard compound slicks front and rear. Two very close battles followed to make up the remainder of the top ten. Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa won the battle for fourth, in which he, teammate Andrea Dovizioso and San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Toni Elias were separated by just 0.033 seconds. Colin Edwards win the second battle for seventh position for the Monster Yamaha Tech3 team. The gap from the Texan to tenth position was just 0.172 seconds at the finish of the hour-long session. The Bridgestone slick compound choices made by the top ten in qualifying were varied. The Repsol Honda riders used Bridgestone’s hard front and medium compound rear slicks, whereas Elias, Edwards and Hayden opted for the same softer option rears but with the softer front too. Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi combined a hard front with a hard compound rear, the same choice made by Stoner. The track started at a temperature of just 26 degrees for the morning’s cloudy second free practice but rose to 48 degrees for qualifying. Lorenzo’s pole lap, set on race tyres as is every qualifying lap this year, was just under 0.2 seconds from the race lap record, a 1m21.488 set last year by Stoner on his Bridgestone-shod Ducati machine. Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development “Laguna Seca is a tricky circuit as the weight transfer of the bikes is different from corner to corner. The right-handed turns three and ten are downhill so this makes it difficult to load the rear of the bike on corner entry, but turn six for example is uphill so the weight transfer is totally different. Also, turns three and ten use the right shoulders of the tyres heavily after a series of left-handers, so temperatures in these shoulders are lower and this adds to the difficulty of these corners, in which Casey and Jorge crashed today. I wish them well and I hope that they will both be fit for tomorrow’s race. “Jorge completed almost a full race distance on a single hard compound rear tyre during the session with good consistency so this shows well for tomorrow. The conditions today were almost the same as yesterday and we expect more of the same tomorrow for the race.” Top ten from qualifying (Saturday 13:55 14:55 GMT-7) Pos Rider Team Fastest lap Gap Compounds Front, Rear 1 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1m21.678s Hard, Medium 2 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m21.845s +0.167s Hard, Medium 3 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 1m21.910s +0.232s Hard, Hard 4 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m22.113s +0.435s Hard, Medium 5 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m22.135s +0.457s Hard, Medium 6 Toni Elias San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m22.146s +0.468s Medium, Medium 7 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m22.490s +0.812s Medium, Medium 8 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 1m22.540s +0.862s Medium, Medium 9 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m22.633s +0.955s Hard, Medium 10 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m22.662s +0.984s Hard, Hard Weather: Dry. Ambient 19°C; Track 48°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Honda: SECOND ROW SWEEP FOR HONDA AT LAGUNA SECA Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) and teammate Andrea Dovizioso will be joined by Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini) on the second row for Sunday’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, the eighth round of the MotoGP World Championship. Pedrosa and Dovizioso had been atop the time charts for the first quarter of the session, then spent the rest of it fighting to get back on top. Pedrosa ended the hour .203s off the front row with Dovizioso only .022 farther back and Elias sixth at a gap of .011s. The qualifying session, held on a sun-drenched afternoon at Laguna Seca, the tortuous track located not far from the Pacific Ocean, was the most dramatic of the year, with two of the top three qualifiers ending the hour with frightening high-sides. Pole position went to Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) before he suffered a dislocated right shoulder and right foot injury in a violent high-side late in the session. He plans to test his race fitness in the Sunday morning warm-up. Teammate Valentino Rossi was second fastest, while Casey Stoner (Ducati) finished third, though he also ended qualifying with a high-side. Stoner was able to walk back into his garage under his own power uninjured. The end of the session was equally dramatic for the Honda runners, with their positions changing hands repeatedly. With less than a minute to go, Elias jumped up to fourth, but only briefly. Six seconds after the checkered flag, Dovizioso stole fourth with his best lap of the day. Then came Pedrosa, who would leapfrog both with the final of his 34 laps of the 3.61k, 11-turn road course. Because injuries prevented him from racing at Laguna Seca last year, Pedrosa was starting over. Two years ago he was on the first generation Honda RC212V and on Michelin tyres. Today he was on the latest spec RC212V, which he only began racing last week in Assen, and control Bridgestones. The new chassis provides better front end stability and feedback, which are essential on a track that features a 91 meter elevation change and a number of hard braking downhill corners. The Spaniard was also in much better physical condition than he’d been in Assen only a week ago. He said the physical nature of the track was a challenge, but not one that would prevent him from challenging for victory. Dovizioso took advantage of the afternoon heat to use the harder rear Bridgestone, a strategy that allowed him to vastly improve his lap times, while setting the RC212V for the race. Dovizioso was on pace to improve his time, but had to slow in the turn 10 area where fast qualifier Jorge Lorenzo had crashed. Elias said the session was probably the toughest of the season, the undulating nature of the track making it a physical challenge, while the heat allowed for more rear tire grip. With the race expected to be run in similar conditions, it was essential Elias find the right settings, which he did. Alex De Angelis, the teammate of Elias, will start the race from the row four pole. De Angelis was disappointed with his grid position, but happy with his race pace, which was done on race tyres. The team worked hard to sort out the front end issues he had in Assen and he expects to find more pace for Sunday’s race. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) will also start from the fourth row after his hopes of starting higher were frustrated during qualifying. The 28-year-old Frenchman found a good race set-up, but wasn’t able to gain any advantage from the softer of the two rear tyre choices. The session ended with De Puniet in the thick of traffic on a machine that he knows he has to improve for the morning warm-up. In only his third grand prix, and his first visit to Laguna Seca, Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda) will start from the final row. The Hungarian found the complexity and physicality of the track daunting, though he was content to have progressed throughout the two days of practice. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 4th – 1m 22.113s, said: “We started this afternoon’s session really well and were able to lap consistently quickly straight away. Towards the end it became a little bit more difficult to improve the lap times because they tyres weren’t quite getting up to temperature and it was easy to make a mistake – we saw a few crashes out there later in the session. Fourth on the grid is not bad – I would have liked to be on the front row of course but fourth is ok. For tomorrow I’d like to improve our race pace by about three tenths per lap and that’s what we’ll work on in the warm-up. We did a lot of laps today on the tyres we’re planning to race on and this was one of our targets this weekend so I’m satisfied with that. It’s a short lap here and there isn’t any chance to rest which is going to make it a tough race tomorrow. You have to stay very focused and concentrated because it’s easy to make a mistake. In the sessions today I was mostly riding on a clear track, so I’m confident that if I can get away with the front group then this will help my rhythm and pace even more.” Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 5th – 1m 22.235s, said: “As I expected this afternoon, with the higher temperatures and using the hard Bridgestones, I could improve my lap times by a decent amount over this morning. That’s good because these are the tyres we’ll use for the race and we’re in pretty good shape. I think I have a good race pace and starting from the second row is not bad. Towards the end of qualifying I think I could have gone even quicker with the last soft tyre but I was on track when Lorenzo crashed so I had to slow down because there were yellow flags. Anyway, I’m happy with qualifying and tomorrow we’ll aim to make a good start and stay with the leaders. In the heat of the race I think I should be able to grit my teeth and shave a few more tenths from my lap time too. This track is really special and the atmosphere here is unique, so and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s race. I hope we can be competitive and give the team a strong result before we head back to Europe.” Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 6th – 1m 22.146s, said: “To be perfectly honest, that was probably the toughest session of the weekend so far, but in the end we met our objective, which was to secure a place on one of the front two rows for the race tomorrow. Sixth place gives us a good chance, my pace is decent so I hope to get a good enough start to be able to follow Rossi and Stoner because I think we have the potential to stay with them. They’re really quick but we have to give it a shot. I truly think we have the chance to give them a race tomorrow and we can’t afford to let opportunities like this pass us by. We have worked hard so far this season without much reward so hopefully this weekend will be the turning point for us. We’ve made good progress but now we have to back it up.” Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 12th – 1m 23.004s, said: “Our grid position is not great, but our race pace looks good and I’m pleased with the progress, we’ve made so far this weekend. We’ve improved the performance of the bike under braking and solved the front-end stability issues that we struggled so much with at Assen. We tried the harder compound front tyre today but it gave us a bit of a chattering problem. We believe and we hope that it is only the tyre that caused the problem and by switching back to the softer compound we’ll resolve it. It is only a small thing and it didn’t affect our race pace too much, but I’m confident we can still find a little more speed for tomorrow.” Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda: 14th – 1m 23.147s, said: “Honestly, we have struggled since yesterday to find a good set-up which makes me comfortable on the bike. After the first run this afternoon I thought we found the right direction as I could do decent lap times on race trim. But as soon as I came in on soft tyres, we realized that we could not improve our lap time. I made a few mistakes and found some traffic in the last minutes, but my machine is not good enough at the moment. I am sure the guys will work hard to fix our issues for tomorrow’s warm up session.” Gabor Talmacsi – Scot Honda: 17th – 1m 24.528s, said: “It is a challenging track and you can never relax. I’m satisfied with the free practices, as I was able to improve lap after lap, and session after session. I had a few problems in qualifying with the tyres. I saw it was difficult for everybody. We have some ideas for tomorrow and we will test them during the warm-up to improve our performance in the race.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo took pole position for Sunday’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix in a crucial qualifying session, but will require medical checks before the race after crashing late in the run. A dramatic qualifying session at Laguna Seca, which ended with the Spaniard being stretchered away having set the pole position time of 1’21.678, also saw a heavy fall for Casey Stoner. Lorenzo was unaffected by a lowside crash on the fourth corner with 20 minutes to go, jumping on his second M1 to grab pole for Sunday’s race, before a massive highside crash saw him taken away from trackside and straight to the medical centre. Initial tests showed a partially dislocated right shoulder and a bruised right foot, but Lorenzo will neither be passed fit to ride, nor ruled out of action, until Sunday morning. Second fastest qualifier Valentino Rossi stood alone in parc fermé, having lapped 0.167s behind Lorenzo, with third fastest rider Stoner also crashing hard on turn three in the final minutes. Stoner appeared to be walking unaided, albeit unsteadily, after the session and is ok to race. The second row for Sunday’s eighth MotoGP contest of 2009 will be an all-Honda affair, with factory pair Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso qualifying fourth and fifth respectively, in front of San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Toni Elías all three less than half a second down on Lorenzo. MotoGP’s American representatives Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati) will be joined on row three by Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki), who like Hayden has a good record at Laguna. The top ten qualifiers list was completed by Vermeulen’s veteran teammate Loris Capirossi a previous winner at the track in the 1993 250cc race. More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: CHALLENGING US GP QUALIFYING FOR DE PUNIET Monterey, 4 July: LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet will start tomorrow’s U.S. Grand Prix from 14th position following today’s qualifying session at Laguna Seca Raceway which hosts the eight round of the season. The Frenchman riding the Honda RC212V clocked a 1’23.147 fastest time on Q-tyres at the 3.610 Km Californian track with a gap of 1.469s to today’s fastest time. The second day of practices started out with cloudy skies and mist with air temperature of 18° (ground 29°C) but the ground temperature rose up to 46°C in the 60-minute qualifying session with the 28-year-old still struggling with rear grip problems which affected his grid position for tomorrow’s 32-lap race. Lorenzo topped the time sheets today (1’21.678) followed by Rossi and Stoner. De Puniet 14th 1’23.147 De Puniet 14th: “Honestly we have struggled since yesterday to find a good set up which makes me comfortable on the bike. After the first run this afternoon, I thought we found the right direction as I could do decent lap times on race trim. But as soon as I came in on soft tyres, we realized that we could not improve our lap time. I made a few mistakes and found some traffic in the last minutes but my machine is not good enough at the moment. I am sure the guys will work hard to fix our issues for tomorrow’s warm up session”.