MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner signals intentions for a fourth consecutive race victory by pulling 0.764secs clear in first practice for the US Grand Prix.

By Lynne Huntting

Ducati Marlboro's reigning MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner dominated first free practice for the US Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Stoner, winner of the past three races, kept turning up the wick, setting his best time of 1min 21.915secs on lap 23 of the 28 he rode. That time is already quicker than his own 2007 pole position lap.

Injured Dani Pedrosa sat at the other end of the charts during the hour long session. He worked his way up from last to eighteenth out of nineteen riders, with a time of 1min 25.311secs, before being eclipsed.

Pedrosa pitted after 12 laps. He then went back out at the end of the session, but he never got faster, and finished the session in last place. He walks with a decided limp as a result of his Sachsenring accident, which has cost him the world championship lead by 16 points to Valentino Rossi and also left him with a fractured finger and wrist.

Rossi is still working on his target goal of "trying to improve my best result." He was second in morning practice, setting his fastest lap near the end of the session, but was 0.764secs behind Stoner.

The Doctor looks to have finally got the hang of this track. He's never been a fan of Mazda Raceway. While Rossi stopped short of actually saying he liked the track during Thursday's informal media conference, he did say "I'm very happy now. They have come to a lot of riders and asked for their input. I think they have done their best. The level of safety is quite good."

Third through fifth fastest were Shinya Nakano (San Carlos Honda Gresini); Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP); and Marco Melandri (Ducati Marlboro Team) - Melandri enjoying a highly promising start to what could be his last weekend as a Ducati rider.

Pedrosa's team-mate and American favourite Nicky Hayden was sixth fastest on the second Repsol Honda.

Wild-card rider Ben Spies tumbled from his Rizla Suzuki at Turn Four, his bike doing cartwheels in the gravel trap, while Spies walked away. The emergency crew wrestled with the motorcycle, getting it together enough to be carried away. He was running seventh at the time but later slipped back to eleventh with a best lap of 1min 23.950secs.

Replacement rider for recovering John Hopkins, Jamie Hacking, was twelfth fastest for Kawasaki during his first ever MotoGP session.

The session got off to a late start. The weather started out overcast and cool, but by the end the sun was breaking through the clouds.

MotoGP has another hour-long practice session this afternoon.