INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (AFP) – Australian Ducati rider Casey Stoner was fastest in the first practice for the Indianapolis MotoGP on Friday, edging championship leader Jorge Lorenzo of Spain. Stoner notched a best lap of 1min 40.884sec, .225sec faster than Lorenzo. Stoner was the only rider in the hour-long practice session to break 1:41. Lorenzo, who goes into Sunday’s race trying to stretch his MotoGP points lead with an eighth win in 10 races, won last year at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway after Dani Pedrosa crashed on the fourth lap. Pedrosa will be looking to make up for that lapse, and cut into Lorenzo’s 77-point series lead this weekend. Lorenzo was fast throughout Friday’s practice, and topped the times until the final quarter-hour when Stoner eclipsed the Spaniard’s best effort of 1:41.109. American Nicky Hayden, eager to give home fans something to cheer, posted the third-quickest time. He also gave his supporters a moment of angst as he went down at turn 13 in the final 15 minutes. Despite landing on his left arm he was able to avoid further injury to the left wrist he hurt at Brno and quickly returned to the track. Pedrosa was fourth-fastest with a time of 1:41.421, which put him four-hundredths of a second ahead of reigning world champion Valentino Rossi. American Ben Spies, who was announced Friday as the rider who will take over from Rossi in the Yamaha factory team next season, crashed with six seconds left in the session but was unhurt. A second practice on Saturday morning will be followed by qualifying for Sunday’s race. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.phpFive Filters featured article: “Peace Envoy” Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent.

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