Indianapolis MotoGP Practice
Indianapolis welcomed MotoGP to the Motor Speedway on Friday with a Forrest Gump-like assortment of rain – sprinkles, showers, big ol’ rain, mist, fog, several downpours and, at one point, rain that appeared to be falling UP. I happened to be walking from my car to the media center at the track during that last bit, and got soaked through to the skin. It’s Saturday morning, and I’m still wet in places.
Just as an aside – we haven’t had a decent rain in Indianapolis since July. As thorough as the honchos at the IMS are, they must have put someone in charge of weather this weekend. That person should be fired. Weather like this would never be allowed during the 500 or the Brickyard.
Friday was one of those days that casual race fans don’t pay much attention to. For the riders and the teams, though, it is a high stress, high-risk day. So much information to gather, so little time. Yesterday, most of the angst was about tires. Teams have rain tires and dry tires, hot tires and cool tires, and enough permutations of each to keep Bridgestone and Michelin busy all year long. What they don’t apparently have is standing water tires, nor 3-or-4-different-racing-surfaces-wet-or-dry tires, which is what they need to compete at the Speedway this weekend.
For racing fans in town for the weekend, the weather kept things tamped down.
Saturday morning has dawned cloudy and humid. Radar shows tons of rain, almost all of which looks to remain north of us, at least early in the day, so today promises to be better than yesterday. Qualifications today are from 2 until 3. The exhibition riding competition scheduled for last night was rescheduled to tonight, weather permitting. I had originally planned to attend the cruiser race at the Fairgrounds this evening, which may or may not go depending on the weather. Priority #1 tonight will be the race; if it rains again, the exhibition riding will surely be canceled – way too dangerous. If they cancel the race and hold the exhibition, we will go downtown and check it out.
| Friday’s MotoGP practice times | |||
| Rank | Ride | Team | Time |
| 1 | Anthony West | Kawasaki Racing | 1:53.034 |
| 2 | Alex de Angellis | San Carlo Honda Gresini | 1:53.151 |
| 3 | Casey Stoner | Ducati Marlboro | 1:53.190 |
| 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | JiR Team Scot | 1:53.704 |
| 5 | John Hopkins | Kawasaki Racing | 1:53.715 |
| 6 | Chris Vermeulen | Rizla Suzuki | 1:53.771 |
| 7 | Jorge Lorenzo | Fiat Yamaha | 1:53.850 |
| 8 | Nicky Hayden | Repsol Honda | 1:53.931 |
| 9 | Ben Spies | Rizla Suzuki | 1:54.297 |
| 10 | Toni Elias | Alice Ducati | 1:54.616 |
| 11 | Valentino Rossi | Fiat Yamaha | 1:54.795 |
| 12 | Randy De Puniet | LCR Honda | 1:55.072 |
| 13 | Shinya Nakano | San Carlo Honda Gressini | 1:55.074 |
| 14 | Marco Melandri | Ducati Marlboro | 1:55.292 |
| 15 | Colin Edwards | Tech 3 Yamaha | 1:55.731 |
| 16 | Sylvain Guitoll | Alice Ducati | 1:56.125 |
| 17 | James Toseland | Tech 3 Yamaha | 1:56.261 |
| 18 | Loris Capirossi | Rizla Suzuki | 1:56.345 |
| 19 | Dani Pedrosa | Repsol Honda | 1:56.851 |
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