The Laguna Seca round of the MotoGP championship this weekend is certainly special for the four Americans participating (Nicky Hayden, Ben Spies, Colin Edwards and Roger Lee Hayden), but it is also one of the tracks most of the European MotoGP riders favor.  One of the great MotoGP races ever occurred here two years ago, when Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi fought tooth-and-nail until Rossi took the win. 

Today, in the opening practice session for Sunday’s race, Ducati’s Casey Stoner set the fastest lap, with the Yamaha of Jorge Lorenzo and the Honda of Andrea Dovizioso second and third quickest, respectively.

American rookie Ben Spies (Yamaha) returns to a track he knows very well (having ridden hundreds of laps on it while an AMA superbike racer), and he set the fifth quickest time in opening practice, just ahead of Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) in sixth.  We will offer more race coverage as the weekend progresses.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.