Stoner heads morning warm up

The morning clouds kept the track at a cool 14 degrees (57 F) for the MotoGP warm up, with Casey Stoner topping the field for much of the session, his fast lap of 1’21.747 pushing him in the lead. The Australian was followed by Jorge Lorenzo who will start from the pole position for the third successive year at Laguna Seca circuit, and Andrea Dovizioso, both of whom posted a lap 0.248s behind the Championship leader. The time was the fastest of the weekend so far for the Italian.

Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) posted fourth fastest time, with a 1’22.018 ahead of Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) in fifth with a time of 1’22.141.

The factory Ducati’s were next in the lineup, with Nicky Hayden the quickest of the Ducati Team with a sixth fastest time, followed by Valentino Rossi. The pair will start the afternoon race on the third row, which is the worst MotoGP start for Hayden at Laguna Seca.

Second place starter Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) was eighth in the short sessionand the last of the group to run within a second of Stoner, with Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Alvero Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) completing the top ten riders. Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) posted eleventh in the field, the same position the Texan will start the race from.

Randy de Puniet did not participate in the warm up session, due to pain from injuries incurred during his crash in the previous day’s qualifying session.