PICS: Shoulder pain but Ben Spies hopes to race

Ben Spies is hoping to race in Sunday's Indianapolis MotoGP despite suffering a shoulder injury during a big qualifying fall.

Spies was one of three riders to highside through the Turn 13-Turn 14 left handers - but the only one not to bring out the red flags.

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The Factory Yamaha star, who had been on a potential pole lap when he fell, was able to rejoin for the last eight minutes of qualifying but unable to improve.

Nevertheless, he still qualified fourth on the grid at a track where he has been on the podium for the past two seasons.

Hospital checks later confirmed no broken bones, and a sore Spies will 'give it a go tomorrow'.

"My shoulder is really sore after that crash, maybe some torn ligaments so it's pretty painful," he said. "I'm getting some treatment and we'll see how it is tomorrow.

"It's frustrating as we've been going really well all weekend and I've been feeling really confident with the bike, I think we could have been on pole.

"The track surface is pretty tricky at the end there, it seems to have caught a few people today."

Team director Massimo Meregalli added: "Everything was perfect for qualifying apart from the last 500 metres of Ben's great lap. His rhythm is very good which is important. Unfortunately due to the crash Ben is very sore now and we hope he will be ok to ride tomorrow."

Countryman Nicky Hayden has been ruled out of the grand prix due to his qualifying highside, while a decision is yet to made regarding the race status of reigning MotoGP champion Casey Stoner, who sustained ankle ligament damage.

Spies' team-mate and title leader Jorge Lorenzo will start second on the grid, behind Dani Pedrosa (Honda).