West makes his mark in wet first Indianapolis MotoGP session

The gentlemen of MotoGP started their engines for their first ever practice session at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday morning, with the opening laps of preparation for the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix taking place under wet conditions and the threat of Hurricane Ike.

The double challenge of learning the track and navigating a slippery surface was best overcome by Kawasaki´s Anthony West, the fastest rider round the American circuit with a lap of 1´53.034. Notorious for his affinity for the wet, the Australian was just over a tenth of a second quicker than any other rider, with MotoGP Rookie Alex de Angelis the closest to matching his time.

Always quick on the uptake, 2007 World Champion Casey Stoner was unable to continue his run of free practice dominance on his maiden Indianapolis outing. The Ducati rider was close behind his fellow Australian, however, just 0.156 down on West´s marker. He suffered a light highside at the end of the session.

JiR Team Scot´s Andrea Dovizioso led the Michelin charge in fourth on the timesheet, whilst home rider John Hopkins and Rizla Suzuki´s recently-renewed Chris Vermeulen completed the top six.

Jorge Lorenzo placed seventh fastest in the session, ahead of two local riders in the forms of 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden and newly-crowned AMA Superbike Champion Ben Spies. Toni Elias rounded off the top ten, whilst current World Championship leader Valentino Rossi could only manage the eleventh quickest time.

Involved in the battle for second place in the series, Dani Pedrosa had a difficult start to his association with Bridgestone, rounding off the field some 3.8 seconds off the pace in the 1.5 hour extended session.