Marquez maintains Indy stranglehold, Ben Spies hurt
Marc Marquez continued his dominance of the 2013 Indianapolis MotoGP weekend by holding his place at the top of the timesheets during Saturday morning practice.
Meanwhile, the luckless Ben Spies spent most of the session in the Medical Centre, having his left shoulder examined.
Spies is making his MotoGP comeback, having only raced twice this season due to right shoulder injuries - then surgery and muscle problems - sustained in last October's Malaysian race.
13th but feeling back to fitness on Friday, the Texan was kicked from his Pramac Ducati when the rear slid, then gripped, just before the halfway stage of FP3
Spies landed on the front of his bike before being dumped onto the asphalt, with his left shoulder taking the brunt of the force.
The former WSBK champion and MotoGP race winner shunned the offer of a stretcher, but was unable to remove his helmet without assistance and duly pointed to his left shoulder/collarbone area, with pain written on his face.
The outcome of the medical checks has not yet been announced, although rumours suggest a possible dislocation.
Meanwhile, rookie title leader Marquez got the better of fellow Honda rider Stefan Bradl in the closing minutes of the session, which Marquez finished with an advantage of 0.281s.
Marquez's best lap was 0.658s under his Friday best and just a few hundredths of a second from the official pole record, set by Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa. Second in the championship Pedrosa was only fifth quickest (0.725s) this morning, but - unlike Marquez - set his best time on the harder rear tyre.
Cal Crutchlow was the top Yamaha in third place (+0.597s), the Tech 3 star edging out Gresini Honda's Alvaro Bautista to be the only M1 competitor in the top five. Factory Yamaha stars Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were sixth (0.753s) and seventh (0.796s), with Tech 3 rookie Bradley Smith in eighth and Andrea Dovizioso the leading Ducati in ninth.
The top ten riders after FP3 receive direct access to the second and final part of this afternoon's qualifying session, while the others will fight for the last two places in qualifying one.
The two manufacturer riders missing out on an automatic Q2 transfer will be Spies and team-mate Andrea Iannone, the Italian spending the closing stages in a battle with factory Ducati star Nicky Hayden for tenth place.
Hayden was eleventh when he returned for a time attack in the final minute, which lifted the 2006 world champion - making his final home appearance as a factory Ducati MotoGP rider - ahead of injured rookie Iannone by just 0.017s.
A short Free Practice 4 will be held just before qualifying.
Free practice (3):
1. Marc Marquez
2. Stefan Bradl
3. Cal Crutchlow
4. Alvaro Bautista
5. Dani Pedrosa
6. Jorge Lorenzo
7. Valentino Rossi
8. Bradley Smith
9. Andrea Dovizioso
10. Nicky Hayden
11. Andrea Iannone
12. Danilo Petrucci
13. Aleix Espargaro
14. Ben Spies
15. Yonny Hernandez
16. Colin Edwards
17. Claudio Corti
18. Hiroshi Aoyama
19. Hector Barbera
20. Bryan Staring
21. Randy De Puniet
22. Michael Laverty
23. Lukas Pesek
24. Karel Abraham
25. Blake Young
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