barrygrussell
Senior Member
eigning MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo was a level above his closest competitors in MotoGP qualifying, despite a nasty highside at the end of FP3 when he forgot to the switch the traction control back on after doing a practice start.
While Casey Stoner pulled off a single fast lap of 1:21.274 to qualify second, just 0.072 slower, the Spaniard showed a strong pace throughout the one hour session and was as the only rider to lap regularly in the 1:21s. Dani Pedrosa was a further tenth back, to complete the front row, though his pace through the session was than Stoner’s.
Ben Spies had a good session until he crashed fast in turn three towards the end, wedging his bike under the air fence, but was good enough to qualify fourth ahead of Italians Simoncelli and Dovisioso.
With Stoner going through one of his head-shaking weekends, he’s clearly unhappy with the set-up of the RC212v, but wrung the bikes neck in the characteristic stroppy style he used to employ get wins out of the enigmatic Desmosedici.
The Australian’s successor at Ducati, Valentino Rossi, rode hard throughout the session, lifting his back wheel high under braking as he plunged into the Corkscrew, qualifying 7th, one second slower than his own successor at Yamaha. Teammate Nicky Hayden crashed during the session, but qualified ninth to make it an all-Ducati third row with Hector Barbera sandwiched between the factory bikes. Britain’s Cal Crutchlow got to grips with the tricky Californian track to head the fourth row, in front of his Texan Tech 3 teammate and a determined-looking Alvaro Bautista.
Pramac Ducati’s misery continued when Randy de Puniet crashed at Turn 5, fracturing two vertebrae and a hip. The team said that the Frenchman would race, subject to how he came through warm-up on race day. As MSS Kawasaki team boss Nick Morgan said recently, when telling me that British Superstock racer Danny Buchan would be riding a week after breaking a collarbone “Well it’s not football, is it mate?”
Complete qualifying results can be seen http://www.motogp.com/en/Results+Statistics/2011/USA/MotoGP/QPhere.
Laguna Seca is a tight track, the shortest on the MotoGP calendar, which makes overtaking difficult, so having the fastest bike doesn’t guarantee victory, which is a great excuse to relive
Rossi vs Stoner in the 2008 Laguna round. This time, if Stoner gets the jump on Lorenzo at the start he is more than capable of spoiling the World Champion’s game plan.
As usual there are no Moto2 or 125 rounds at the Californian track. Trying to cover the majority of members, the race will start at 2:00pm Sunday local time, which is 4:00am Monday (Thailand and Indonesia) and 5:00am Monday (Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore).
While Casey Stoner pulled off a single fast lap of 1:21.274 to qualify second, just 0.072 slower, the Spaniard showed a strong pace throughout the one hour session and was as the only rider to lap regularly in the 1:21s. Dani Pedrosa was a further tenth back, to complete the front row, though his pace through the session was than Stoner’s.
Ben Spies had a good session until he crashed fast in turn three towards the end, wedging his bike under the air fence, but was good enough to qualify fourth ahead of Italians Simoncelli and Dovisioso.
With Stoner going through one of his head-shaking weekends, he’s clearly unhappy with the set-up of the RC212v, but wrung the bikes neck in the characteristic stroppy style he used to employ get wins out of the enigmatic Desmosedici.
The Australian’s successor at Ducati, Valentino Rossi, rode hard throughout the session, lifting his back wheel high under braking as he plunged into the Corkscrew, qualifying 7th, one second slower than his own successor at Yamaha. Teammate Nicky Hayden crashed during the session, but qualified ninth to make it an all-Ducati third row with Hector Barbera sandwiched between the factory bikes. Britain’s Cal Crutchlow got to grips with the tricky Californian track to head the fourth row, in front of his Texan Tech 3 teammate and a determined-looking Alvaro Bautista.
Pramac Ducati’s misery continued when Randy de Puniet crashed at Turn 5, fracturing two vertebrae and a hip. The team said that the Frenchman would race, subject to how he came through warm-up on race day. As MSS Kawasaki team boss Nick Morgan said recently, when telling me that British Superstock racer Danny Buchan would be riding a week after breaking a collarbone “Well it’s not football, is it mate?”
Complete qualifying results can be seen http://www.motogp.com/en/Results+Statistics/2011/USA/MotoGP/QPhere.
Laguna Seca is a tight track, the shortest on the MotoGP calendar, which makes overtaking difficult, so having the fastest bike doesn’t guarantee victory, which is a great excuse to relive
As usual there are no Moto2 or 125 rounds at the Californian track. Trying to cover the majority of members, the race will start at 2:00pm Sunday local time, which is 4:00am Monday (Thailand and Indonesia) and 5:00am Monday (Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore).
