FIM MotoGP World Championship Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California July 18, 2008 Free Practice Two Results: 1. Casey Stoner (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:21.928 2. Nicky Hayden (Honda), Michelin, 1:22.634 3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), Bridgestone, 1:22.769 4. Alex De Angelis (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:22.808 5. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:22.847 6. Shinya Nakano (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:22.924 7. Colin Edwards (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:23.077 8. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda), Michelin, 1:23.097 9. Toni Elias (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:23.114 10. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:23.185 11. Ben Spies (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:23.244 12. Marco Melandri (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:23.317 13. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:23.415 14. Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:23.495 15. Dani Pedrosa (Honda), Michelin, 1:23.707 16. James Toseland (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:23.943 17. Randy De Puniet (Honda), Michelin, 1:23.955 18. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:24.371 19. Anthony West (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:24.483, crash Best Combined Practice Times: 1. Stoner, 1:21.826 2. Hayden, 1:22.634 3. Rossi, 1:22.679 4. De Angelis, 1:22.808 5. Vermeulen, 1:22.847 6. Nakano, 1:22.924 7. Edwards, 1:23.077 8. Dovizioso, 1:23.097 9. Elias, 1:23.114 10. Capirossi, 1:23.185 11. Spies, 1:23.244 12. Melandri, 1:23.317 13. Lorenzo, 1:23.415 14. Guintoli, 1:23.495 15. Pedrosa, 1:23.707 16. Toseland, 1:23.943 17. De Puniet, 1:23.955 18. Hacking, 1:24.050 19. West, 1:24.483 More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Bridgestone riders make solid start at Laguna Seca Round 11: USA Free Practice Laguna Seca Raceway, Friday 18 July 2008 Ducati’s Casey Stoner continued his recent impressive form in today’s opening free practice sessions at the Laguna Seca raceway, lapping under his pole position time from last year by almost half-a-second using Bridgestone race tyres this afternoon. Stoner, winner of the last three races, was quickest in both of today’s sessions by a notable margin, and led a quintet of Bridgestone-shod riders in the morning practice hour. In the afternoon, with track temperatures considerably higher, he set his quickest lap of the day on his final tour of the 3.610km Laguna Seca track. Several other Bridgestone riders frequented the upper half of the classification today with Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi in third place overall. San Carlo Honda Gresini duo Alex De Angelis and Shinya Nakano were fourth and sixth, sandwiching Rizla Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen in fifth. Alice Team’s Toni Elias and Vermeulen’s team-mate Loris Capirossi rounded out the top ten in ninth and tenth respectively. Bridgestone is supplying tyres to a total of twelve riders for this weekend’s US Grand Prix with the addition of Ben Spies as a wildcard at Rizla Suzuki, and Jamie Hacking replacing the injured John Hopkins at Kawasaki. The only other MotoGP race for which Bridgestone supplied so many riders was last season’s Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi. Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development Was today a standard free practice day? “We adopted our standard Friday procedure with evaluation of the different types of tyre that we have prepared for this weekend’s race. Thankfully, we have had no need to use wet weather tyres, but the weather conditions were surprisingly chilly in this morning’s practice. We have looked at the full range of tyres from soft to hard specification with each of our teams in order to understand the performance of these tyres in the varying conditions. In the first session, with lower track temperatures, we tested soft to medium specifications, but this afternoon’s session was held under sunny skies and with warmer track temperatures, which allowed us to look at harder compounds. We yielded quite promising results with all specs and have different options depending on the track temperatures that we will face.” Were any riders able to conduct longer runs today? “This afternoon, some of our riders conducted a consecutive mid -range run of around half race distance, and I was pleased with the performance and consistency of the tyres. The Laguna race is the longest of the season in terms of number of laps, so consistency will be an important factor on Sunday afternoon. For this reason, we must keep reconfirming this aspect of our tyre performance during tomorrow’s two sessions.” Bridgestone-shod Riders’ Combined Practice Session Results Pos. Rider Team Session 1 (pos) Session 2 (pos) Gap P1 Casey Stoner Ducati Corse 1m21.915s (P1) 1m21.826s (P1) Fastest P3 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m22.679s (P2) 1m22.769s (P3) +0.943s P4 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m23.896s (P10) 1m22.808s (P4) +0.982s P5 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m23.406s (P4) 1m22.847s (P5) +1.021s P6 Shinya Nakano San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m22.953s (P3) 1m22.924s (P6) +1.098s P9 Toni Elias Alice Team 1m23.698s (P8) 1m23.114s (P9) +1.288s P10 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m24.392s (P15) 1m23.185s (P10) +1.359s P11 Ben Spies Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m23.950s (P11) 1m23.244s (P11) +1.418s P12 Marco Melandri Ducati Corse 1m23.455s (P5) 1m23.317s (P12) +1.491s P14 Sylvain Guintoli Alice Team 1m24.661s (P17) 1m23.495s (P14) +1.669s P18 Jamie Hacking Kawasaki Racing Team 1m24.050s (P12) 1m24.371s (P18) +2.545s P19 Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team 1m24.591s (P16) 1m24.483s (P19) +2.657s Weather: Session 1 / Dry Air 14-17°C, Track 23-35°C (Bridgestone measurement) Session 2 / Dry Air 17°C, Track 46°C (Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI MAKES PROMISING START TO AMERICAN ASSAULT Valentino Rossi made a good start to his US Grand Prix weekend today, finishing the day third fastest in the overall standings at Laguna Seca. His best time of 1’22.679 was set this morning and is just over a tenth of a second off last year’s lap record. This morning’s first free practice was run in unexpectedly cool temperatures but the Italian’s M1 worked well out of the box and he was second fastest, 0.764 seconds of Casey Stoner. Rossi was confident of being able to improve his times this afternoon as the track heated up but the temperature increased by only a few degrees and he was unable to better his time from this morning. He is nonetheless confident that he has not yet reached his full potential here and will be able to make further improvements tomorrow. Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was 13th fastest on what is his first ever ride at this track, whilst the time sheets were topped by Casey Stoner, with Nicky Hayden in second. Valentino Rossi Position: 3 Time: 1’22.679 Laps: 65 “We started quite well this morning and we were quite fast from the start. We used our standard base setting and it seemed to work quite well here, and I think that in fact I could have gone faster this morning but in my last run my grip wasn’t perfect so I slowed down. This morning I was quite happy but this afternoon we tried to modify something in the set-up of the bike, because we’re still looking for the ideal configuration for this track, and it wasn’t as good as we had hoped. Now we must put the best things of each session together and then I believe we will be able to be some tenths faster tomorrow. We have a good potential here and I know we haven’t reached it yet; we need to do some work on the suspension but the Bridgestones are good which is encouraging. I am looking forward to making more progress tomorrow and closing the gap to Stoner.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “Overall this has been a good day. We are quite pleased with how we started this morning and now we’re working hard to fine-tune our set-up, especially the suspension, chassis and electronic mapping, in order to optimise our potential here. It was cooler than we expected today but our Bridgestone tyres are working very well at this track. We didn’t improve this afternoon as much as we’d hoped but we will look at the data tonight and continue with our work in the morning.” More, from another press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO TAKES IT EASY AS HE FINDS HIS WAY AT LAGUNA SECA Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo made his competitive debut at Laguna Seca today on the first day of practice for the US Grand Prix, finishing 13th in the combined standings. The 21-year-old visited the track as a commentator for last year’s race but this was his first time on a bike around the famous California circuit. Lorenzo has been looking forward to riding here all season and he spent this morning’s session familiarising himself with the nuances of the 3.610 km track, especially the famous corkscrew at turn eight. This afternoon he felt confident enough to begin working on bike set-up and he improved his time by nearly a second. He is still lacking some rear grip however and will be looking to make significant strides with this tomorrow. Lorenzo’s team-mate Valentino Rossi was third fastest today, behind Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 13th Time: 1’23.415 Laps: 63 “The first laps here in Laguna Seca this morning were incredible for me and I had great fun learning the track. On my first lap I was very lucky at the Corkscrew because Nicky Hayden was in front and he knows this track very well, so I followed him and I came out alive! It’s very different to anywhere else we go and very complicated, so I am trying to take it gently until I am sure of my lines. For me the hardest part is the first corner, but I felt better about it this afternoon. I had some problems with my rear tyre, we don’t have enough grip, and I also need more confidence in the front of the bike. I think I need to do some more laps here in order to have more feeling and knowledge about the track and the right lines. I’ve been looking at the Superbike times and they’re doing almost the same times as me, so I know I have some work to do. We have some issues but we’re working hard towards being faster tomorrow. I’ve enjoyed my first day here.” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “The number one priority of today was for Jorge to learn the track, so we did quite long runs in order to improve his understanding of the lines and the braking points. In general he understood quite quickly and it seems he’s enjoying riding here at Laguna Seca. We still have some rear grip issues to address, especially on the entry into turns, and we will concentrate on this tomorrow and try out some different solutions for our bike.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP’s three-pronged attack at the USGP at Laguna Seca in California got off to good start during the first day of practice, with all three riders showing promise for the weekend ahead. Chris Vermeulen (1’22.847, 61 laps) led the way for the boys in blue with the fifth fastest time of the day as he again showed his liking for the 3,610m American circuit. Vermeulen got a podium position here last year and will certainly be looking to emulate that this weekend. Loris Capirossi (1’23.185, 58 laps) is still feeling the after-effects of the crash at Assen last month, and the physically demanding Laguna Seca circuit did nothing to help his recuperation. Capirossi again dug deep into his reserves to overcome the pain that he is suffering to record the 10th fastest time of the day and show signs that he has more to give as the weekend progresses. Wildcard rider Ben Spies (1’23.244, 52 laps) was just one place behind Capirossi as he posted the 11th quickest time despite this being only the second MotoGP race that he has competed in. He has also hampered by a big crash in this morning’s session, but was able to walk away from the incident uninjured. Spies was also in action in the AMA Superbike practice today where he was second fastest behind Suzuki team-mate Mat Mladin. Today’s two sessions were held in varying weather conditions, this morning was overcast and very cool whilst this afternoon was in bright, warm sunshine. This caused huge differences in temperatures with the track at 26ºC this morning and 53 C this afternoon. Casey Stoner on his Bridgestone-shod Ducati was again very dominant as he posted a time over three-quarters-of-a-second faster than his nearest rival. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will continue with its practice tomorrow in a further free session followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s race is round 11 of the season and the event gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (21.00hrs GMT). Chris Vermeulen: “I was looking forward to coming back here as it’s a track we’ve had success at on the Rizla Suzuki, and it’s a track I really enjoy with its character being so different to the European circuits. Today was quite difficult though and we struggled quite a bit to get a good feeling with the bike. We made some steps forward this afternoon and went quite a bit quicker and closer to the front, but we will have to make some more of those steps tomorrow to get right up there. Hopefully we’ll be able to do that and make sure we are challenging for the podium come Sunday.” Loris Capirossi: “This track is very physical and quite a bit harder for me to ride on than at Sachsenring, but I worked hard with the crew to make the bike work the best for me around here and in the end we found a solution that was not too bad. We will still need to work quite a bit more tomorrow to get it right. The weather conditions today didn’t help because we had lots of hard tyres for the high temperatures but it was too cold to make use of them. For tomorrow I hope the weather is better, but I really want this weekend to pass in the best possible way and then I can get three weeks rest. It is really hard for me because every time I ride I have to have treatment on the wound to clean it and then have it dressed, but I want to do my best here so I will block it out and be as strong as I can!” Ben Spies: “It was a good day today as a whole. Obviously the crash this morning hurt my confidence a little bit, but I got faster the whole session this afternoon and a couple of tenths quicker would have put us right up there, as it is so close. I think we can build on this and get faster and faster all weekend and I’m really looking forward to it.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “We’ve had a reasonable first day here at Laguna, with all three riders doing a good job. Chris has been incredibly consistent at his fastest pace but still needs more out of the bike to be able to challenge for the front. So that has to be our target, to find the right solutions tonight to help him to do that. “This is a very physical racetrack and Loris is clearly struggling with the injury, but as ever he is giving 100%. Ben has acquitted himself very well despite the setback of this morning’s crash and looked strong this afternoon. We’ve still got work to do for all three guys, but we’re confident we can take decent steps tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: REPSOL HONDA’S HAYDEN SECOND ON DAY ONE, PEDROSA BATTLES THE PAIN United States Grand Prix, Laguna Seca First day of practice, Friday July 18 2008 Repsol Honda riders Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa completed today’s first two US GP practice sessions second and 15th fastest aboard their RC212Vs. Double Laguna GP winner Hayden stormed into second place on his final lap of the day, while Pedrosa battled bravely with the injuries he sustained when he crashed while leading last Sunday’s German GP. Hayden, wearing a special Olympics-themed helmet and leathers design for his home race, is working hard to close the gap on current pace-setter Casey Stoner. The American made set-up changes this afternoon to give him more grip round this rollercoaster of a Californian racetrack. Pedrosa fractured his left index finger and the big bone of his left wrist and sprained his right ankle last weekend. The tough Spaniard, who is wearing a modified Alpinestars glove on his heavily strapped, injured hand, is obviously in severe discomfort despite using painkilling therapy. Laguna is a hugely physically challenging anti-clockwise racetrack that places exceptional strain on the left hand, wrist and arm. Pedrosa rode 21 laps this morning and 28 laps this afternoon. This morning’s session started ten minutes late due to fog. Conditions this afternoon were warm and sunny, though the session was briefly red-flagged with 20 minutes to go after Anthony West crashed. His machine took out a section of safety air fence which had to be replaced before practice could continue. Nicky Hayden, 2nd fastest, 1m 22.634s “It’s been quite a tough day, to be honest. We’ve been trying to work around a few problems the best we can. We’re not completely happy with our tyre options this week, it’s tough saving some for the race, which makes it a tough weekend. This is a track I’ve gone well at in the past, but none of that counts now, I need to do it again. This afternoon the team’s done a good job, made a few changes to try and make the tyres work better. At the end I got going a little bit better but still the gap to Stoner is so far. We’ll keep working hard and use all the time we’ve got. The support I’ve got here is unbelievable, man. I just can’t believe how these fans treat me. We’ll keep working hard and try and give the fans something so they’re not headed to the gate with five laps to go!” Dani Pedrosa, 15th fastest, 1m 23.707s “I’m feeling a lot of pain and this race is really long and tough, so we still need to evaluate if it’s worth racing. This morning I went out just to see how I felt on the bike and to see if I could ride. I felt incredible pain, so we decided to use a anti-pain infiltration for the second session. In the afternoon I was two seconds faster, even though I still felt a lot of pain after doing a short run of laps. This track is extremely demanding, with many left-handers and a lot of ups and downs. The downhill sections are particularly difficult as there’s more pressure on the hands which makes it even more of a struggle. I can stand the pain from my right ankle when I’m on the bike, but I have to use a crutch to walk.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “Nicky was second quickest today, which isn’t bad but we still need to improve so we will have a meeting and discuss what we can do to improve his set-up and choose the best tyres for this track. Today Dani showed he has a big heart and a strong will because he’s riding with a lot of pain. He rode today and this was his first target. Tomorrow he will try again and we all hope that he will be able to race on Sunday. The team is doing a great job supporting him.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: TOUGH START TO LAGUNA WEEKEND FOR KAWASAKI The Kawasaki Racing Team endured a difficult opening day at Laguna Seca, but Jamie Hacking and Anthony West remain confident of significant improvements tomorrow, once their respective crews have found a solution to the front-end problems that plagued both riders during today’s two practice sessions. The technical and twisty Laguna Seca circuit demands that a rider has the utmost confidence in front-end grip, and both Kawasaki riders struggled today to find a set-up that provided the required level of feedback from the front tyre. This lack of feeling resulted in Anthony West crashing heavily during this afternoon’s hour-long practice session, after losing the front under braking for turn two. The 27-year-old Australian was uninjured in the crash, but struggled to regain his confidence in the front-end of the bike during the remaining 20 minutes of the session. Kawasaki’s engineers will investigate the problem overnight using the data collected during today’s two free practice sessions, and they are confident of finding a solution that will allow both riders to realise their full potential ahead of tomorrow’s all-important qualifying session. Despite the set-up problems, Jamie Hacking maintains that he has enjoyed making his MotoGP debut today. The 37-year-old British born rider has adapted quickly to the demands of riding a pure prototype racer like the Ninja ZX-RR, and he completed both of today’s practice sessions without incident. Jamie Hacking #12 – 18th – 1’24.050 “The important thing is that we’ve made it through both practice sessions safely today. When I tested the bike in Japan I felt comfortable straight away, but Laguna is a very different racetrack to Autopolis and the bike feels very different here. We made some set-up changes for the second session this afternoon, but they didn’t lead to the improvements we were expecting, which meant I wasn’t able to improve on my lap time from the morning practice. I could have pushed a bit harder, but without the feeling from the front end there would have been some risk. We will look at improving the front-end feeling overnight, and my aim tomorrow is simply to continue making progress with the set-up of the bike. I’m not looking for anything crazy going into qualifying tomorrow, as long as we keep improving with every session then I’ll be satisfied.” Anthony West #13 – 19th – 1’24.483 “The conditions were quite difficult this morning, with mist still hanging around some parts of the circuit. We had some difficulties getting the bike to turn in and hold a line during the first practice session, but this was much improved for the second session this afternoon. We still have issues with the front-end; you need to have confidence in the front-end grip at this circuit, and it still feels a bit vague at the moment through some sections of the track. Halfway through the session I decided to push harder anyway, and that’s when I lost the front under braking for turn two. It was a big crash, but luckily I didn’t do any more damage to my back. The team are working hard now to find a solution to the front-end problem, and I’m confident that they’ll have it sorted for tomorrow’s practice and qualifying sessions.” Naoya Kaneko Kawasaki Technical Manager “Both riders are complaining of a lack of feeling from the front-end, and this makes it difficult for them to have the confidence to push for a fast lap time. Obviously we need to find a solution to this issue ahead of tomorrow’s practice and qualifying sessions and, together with Bridgestone, we will be looking at the data to identify what we need to change overnight. I’m confident that, if we can give the riders more feedback from the front, then we will see significant improvements in their lap times tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: The backstory for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix in place, Friday July 18th was the first rehearsal for the MotoGP riders. Over the course of two sessions, the 800cc competitors undertook the first practice runs of the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with their 2008 machines, whilst some were literally learning their lines. Casey Stoner was the fastest rider in both the sessions on the opening day of action, as he was at the past three rounds in Britain, the Netherlands and Germany. His rivals will need no reminding that on all three occasions the Ducati Marlboro man has gone on to win the Sunday race. Stoner´s fastest time was taken in the afternoon outing, when he stopped the clock with a blistering 1´21.826 lap some 0.149 under the previous circuit record (already broken by Stoner in the morning session.). The existing marker had been set by the Australian himself in the warmup session for the 2007 race, a Grand Prix at which he dominated the field in impressive fashion at every opportunity. In two years of riding at the Laguna Seca, Stoner´s fastest time of the weekend has never come during qualifying. Thus, the fact that he ended the day over eight-tenths of a second quicker than second-placed Nicky Hayden could be an ominous sign for those seeking to deny him a fifth consecutive pole position in Saturday´s shootout. Hayden pushed his way to the upper echelons of the timesheet with his last of 34 afternoon laps of his favourite circuit, at which he won both the 2005 & 2006 races. The Repsol Honda rider was the highest placing Michelin rider of the Friday sessions, and the only man using French rubber in the top six. In third place in the combined free practice standings, Valentino Rossi was one of only two riders the other being Kawasaki wildcard Jamie Hacking- to not improve upon his time in the afternoon run. Fiat Yamaha´s World Championship leader was a further 0.045 down on Stoner´s time with his fastest morning lap. Having only been a spectator at last year´s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, Alex de Angelis was showing no signs of struggling to get to grips with the Laguna Seca circuit. San Carlo Gresini Honda´s MotoGP rookie was fourth on Friday, ahead of 2007 race runner-up Chris Vermeulen and his Honda satellite teammate Shinya Nakano. Home rider Colin Edwards and JiR Team Scot´s Andrea Dovizioso were joined by Alice Team´s Toni Elias and Rizla Suzuki man Loris Capirossi in completing the top ten. In eleventh place was Ben Spies, one of the busiest riders of the day owing to his double duty with the AMA Superbike championship. Competing on a third Rizla Suzuki GSV-R, Spies picked himself up from a morning crash to finish respectably in the combined Friday classification. In a good sign for the home rider, his MotoGP time was nearly 1.5 seconds quicker than that taken in the practice for his `day job´ with the GSX-R production machine. The afternoon session was red flagged with 21 minutes remaining, courtesy of a crash by Kawasaki´s Anthony West that required the re-inflation of the air-fence impacted by his Ninja ZX-RR. The Australian was uninjured in the lowside despite the length of his skid into the gravel, although his number one bike will require some repair work ahead of the two Saturday sessions. There were also run-offs for Elias and LCR Honda´s Randy de Puniet. More, from a press release issued by Alice Ducati: GOOD START FOR ELIAS IN THE GRAND PRIX OF AMERICA, GUINTOLI FOURTEENTH Intense day of work for the Alice Team riders, Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli, who after the first two hours of free practice of the Grand Prix of America are respectively in ninth and fourteenth position. The Spanish rider has made it to maintain the good level reached in the morning, when he was in eight position, registering an interesting time only four tenth of a second from the provisional third position. His teammate didn’t make it to be as fast in the morning session, but in the afternoon he made it to lower his best la time by more than a second ending in fourteenth position. Tomorrow morning another hour of free practice for the Alice Team duo that will try to result more competitive for the afternoon qualifying session. Fabiano Sterlacchini — Technical Director “Good day of work for us, both riders made it to improve a lot. Sylvain had some more difficulties in the morning, but in the second session he found a good feeling with his bike improving a lot his pace. The riders, a part Casey Stoner who is registering incredible lap times, are really close to each other and it only takes a little improvement to pass from the actual third row where Toni is to the first. We still have some things to adjust tomorrow, but seen the lap time registered today we can consider ourselves really trustful for the rest of the weekend.” Toni Elias — Alice Team rider (9th best lap time in 1:23.114 — Total laps 62) “We have improved compared to this morning lap times and to finish the first day in the top ten makes me really happy. We need just one little step forward to be even faster. The Team is working really well. We still have to decide which will be the tyres we will use in the race: today we have tried many, but we still need some time to understand which will be the best solution for us.” Sylvain Guintoli — Alice Team rider (14th best lap time in 1:23.495 — Total laps 61) “This morning nothing went in the right direction, maybe I was still sleeping. In the afternoon things went much better even if the position where I am is not yet satisfying. We have done many modifications on the gearbox, on the chassis and with the brakes, reaching a good compromise. I think that tomorrow we can improve even more. I also hope to feel a bit better tomorrow because I am a little bit sick.” More, from a press release issued by JiR Team Scot Honda: Andrea Dovizioso, 8th after the first day at Laguna Seca The first day of testing for the United States Grand Prix has ended with Andrea Dovizioso, in eighth position, confirming the good result obtained in the morning session. After the first intense day, which was spent preparing for the race on Sunday, the JiR Team Scot squad has been selecting tyres, in weather conditions that should be similar to those of the race on Sunday. Andrea Dovizioso – Pilot JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA RC212V 8th-best time: 1’23 “097 “After the morning, where I gained confidence in a track that I had only experienced before with video games, I began to really enjoy Laguna Seca. With its particular layout, it is really different from the rest of the circuits of the world. In the afternoon we improved but not enough, as with many tracks this length, it’s easy to lower your times at the start, but then as you get closer to the limit it’s harder to take more time off your laptimes. We still have to choose tyres for the race, according to the temperature of the track, as conditions change a lot between the morning and afternoon.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Rossi makes promising start to American assault Valentino Rossi made a good start to his US Grand Prix weekend today, finishing the day third fastest in the overall standings at Laguna Seca. His best time of 1’22.679 was set this morning and is just over a tenth of a second off last year’s lap record. This morning’s first free practice was run in unexpectedly cool temperatures but the Italian’s M1 worked well out of the box and he was second fastest, 0.764 seconds of Casey Stoner. Rossi was confident of being able to improve his times this afternoon as the track heated up but the temperature increased by only a few degrees and he was unable to better his time from this morning. He is nonetheless confident that he has not yet reached his full potential here and will be able to make further improvements tomorrow. Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was 13th fastest on what is his first ever ride at this track, whilst the time sheets were topped by Casey Stoner, with Nicky Hayden in second. Valentino Rossi – Position: 3 Time: 1’22.679 Laps: 65 “We started quite well this morning and we were quite fast from the start. We used our standard base setting and it seemed to work quite well here, and I think that in fact I could have gone faster this morning but in my last run my grip wasn’t perfect so I slowed down. This morning I was quite happy but this afternoon we tried to modify something in the set-up of the bike, because we’re still looking for the ideal configuration for this track, and it wasn’t as good as we had hoped. Now we must put the best things of each session together and then I believe we will be able to be some tenths faster tomorrow. We have a good potential here and I know we haven’t reached it yet; we need to do some work on the suspension but the Bridgestones are good which is encouraging. I am looking forward to making more progress tomorrow and closing the gap to Stoner.” Davide Brivio – Team Manager “Overall this has been a good day. We are quite pleased with how we started this morning and now we’re working hard to fine-tune our set-up, especially the suspension, chassis and electronic mapping, in order to optimise our potential here. It was cooler than we expected today but our Bridgestone tyres are working very well at this track. We didn’t improve this afternoon as much as we’d hoped but we will look at the data tonight and continue with our work in the morning.” Lorenzo takes it easy as he finds his way at Laguna Seca Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo made his competitive debut at Laguna Seca today on the first day of practice for the US Grand Prix, finishing 13th in the combined standings. The 21-year-old visited the track as a commentator for last year’s race but this was his first time on a bike around the famous California circuit. Lorenzo has been looking forward to riding here all season and he spent this morning’s session familiarising himself with the nuances of the 3.610 km track, especially the famous corkscrew at turn eight. This afternoon he felt confident enough to begin working on bike set-up and he improved his time by nearly a second. He is still lacking some rear grip however and will be looking to make significant strides with this tomorrow. Lorenzo’s team-mate Valentino Rossi was third fastest today, behind Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden. Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 13th Time: 1’23.415 Laps: 63 “The first laps here in Laguna Seca this morning were incredible for me and I had great fun learning the track. On my first lap I was very lucky at the Corkscrew because Nicky Hayden was in front and he knows this track very well, so I followed him and I came out alive! It’s very different to anywhere else we go and very complicated, so I am trying to take it gently until I am sure of my lines. For me the hardest part is the first corner, but I felt better about it this afternoon. I had some problems with my rear tyre, we don’t have enough grip, and I also need more confidence in the front of the bike. I think I need to do some more laps here in order to have more feeling and knowledge about the track and the right lines. I’ve been looking at the Superbike times and they’re doing almost the same times as me, so I know I have some work to do. We have some issues but we’re working hard towards being faster tomorrow. I’ve enjoyed my first day here.” Daniele Romagnoli – Team Manager “The number one priority of today was for Jorge to learn the track, so we did quite long runs in order to improve his understanding of the lines and the braking points. In general he understood quite quickly and it seems he’s enjoying riding here at Laguna Seca. We still have some rear grip issues to address, especially on the entry into turns, and we will concentrate on this tomorrow and try out some different solutions for our bike.” Tech 3 Yamaha duo looking for improvements Colin Edwards ended the first day of his home race at Laguna Seca with the seventh fastest time, while James Toseland was 16th quickest as the Tech 3 Yamaha team experienced a tough start to the American GP. Struggling to get the best performance out of his Michelin tyres, Edwards was also hampered by a neck injury that he suffered when crashing out of a rain-lashed German GP just five days ago. Edwards was due to have further medical examinations with Dr Art Ting tonight to assess the neck injury. Less than 24 hours after confirming he had signed a new contract with Tech 3 for the 2009 world championship, Edwards clocked a best time of 1.23.077 in the closing stages of this afternoon’s session, which was run under blue skies but in cooler than normal air temperatures of 22 degrees. Conditions though were significantly better than this morning when heavy cloud and mist covered the spectacular California circuit. British rider Toseland had a difficult first day too, which culminated in him crashing unhurt at the end of the second session. Colin Edwards – Position: 7th1.23.077 – 58 lapsM “That certainly didn’t go as well as I expected and right now it looks like it is going to be a tough weekend. Firstly, something is wrong with my neck. I’m trying to be the tough guy but I can’t even turn my head to look around. There is something clicking and grinding in there so I am going to get an X-ray on my neck with Dr Ting just to make sure everything is okay. The issue is with the down force and in particular with the weight of my helmet pushing down on my head. It is like somebody is ramming a red hit poker or a knife in my neck. It happened in the crash in Germany and it is certainly not helping me. But I have got a few issues that are making it tough. I’m having problems with getting heat into the tyres at the moment, and to do the lap time I did right at the end, I’m giving myself a pat on the back for that. I did my best time on my 18th lap on that tyre, so obviously it gets better the more you use it. But early on with the temperature issue it is tough to run the pace of where we need to be. I guess we just got to hope it gets a bit warmer to try and help the grip.” James Toseland – Position: 16th1.23.955 – 55 laps “I’m not happy at all. It has been hard to do the lap times I expected and we have got some problems with the set-up and the tyres. I’m really struggling to have a good feeling and it has been a bit frustrating. I was pushing hard at the end of the session and crashed at turn three and I was only going to really improve by a tenth and maybe gain one position, and 15th is not where I expected to be. The main issue at the moment is getting heat into the tyres because we have got mostly harder compound tyres in my allocation. I’ve got a couple of softer options but I need to save one for the race and possibly use one tomorrow afternoon to make sure it is the direction that we need. I’ll sit down tonight with my guys to see if we can do something with the set-up that will push us a bit further forward. But today I was going as fast as I could and not feeling like I had much room for improvement. We’ll try and improve tomorrow as we always do and remain positive looking ahead to the race.”