All the
MotoGP walking wounded were on course Sunday morning at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the US Grand Prix warm-up.
Three riders had crash injuries from Saturday's qualifying, with varying degrees of pain. And walking wasn't exactly the operative word.
Pole sitter
Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) was injected with pain killers before the session. He was not wearing the sling he had on Saturday afternoon, but was favoring his right foot, which sustained a small fracture during a huge highside that also dislocated his right collarbone,
The plan was to see how he fared in the session before a final decision to race would be made. Lorenzo rose steadily up to fifth and completed 13 laps (race distance is 32 laps).
Casey Stoner (Ducati) walked stiffly to his garage and motorcycle, but it was only a matter of a couple of laps before he reached the top of the chart where he remained for the rest of the session. He ran six laps, with the fifth being the fastest - a 1min 21.918sec.
Stoner then rested in the pits, the only rider other than reigning world champion
Valentino Rossi to get into the 1min 21 range. Lorenzo, Rossi and Stoner will start on the front row of the grid and are the only riders to win races so far this year.
Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) tore part of the finger nail off his right hand on Saturday morning. He was fourth overall in the 20 minute session.
The other American in the field,
Nicky Hayden was seventh fastest and riding with a special livery on his Ducati.
Toni Elias fell off his Gresini Honda and slid down track on the rumble strips into the gravel, following his bike. He was assisted to the wall by the USARM track marshals. Elias was twelfth fastest. Hayate's
Marco Melandri also walked away from a fall.
The weather was its typical foggy overcast and the ambient temperature was 58 degrees F/14C.
The 32-lap race starts at 2 PM local time/5 PM EDT, and will be telecast live in the United States on Fox TV.
By Lynne Huntting.
