Daily Trackside Report - Saturday, Aug. 28
August 28, 2010 | By
DAY 2 – SATURDAY, AUG. 28, 2010
TODAY’S SCHEDULE (all times local):
7 a.m. Public Gates Open
7 a.m.-6 p.m. Vendor Marketplace Open, Gasoline Alley Garages
9-9:40 a.m. 125cc Free Practice #2
9:55-10:55 a.m. MotoGP Free Practice #2
11:10 a.m.-12:10 p.m. Moto2 Free Practice #2
1-1:40 p.m. 125cc Qualifying
1:55-2:55 p.m. MotoGP Qualifying
3:10-3:55 p.m. Moto2 Qualifying
4:25-4:55 p.m. USGPRU Moriwaki MD250H Powered by Honda Race #1 (12 laps)
4:50-5:45 p.m. Live Music by Crash with Yamaha World Superbike Rider James Toseland, SPEED Stage
5:15-5:35 p.m. Ride for Kids with 1993 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz
5:45-6:30 p.m. Yamaha Rider Chats with Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Ben Spies, Colin Edwards, SPEED Stage
6 p.m. Track Closes
***
Bridgestone, the exclusive tire supplier of MotoGP, will offer these compounds for MotoGP teams this weekend:
Front: Medium, hard
Rear: Hard, extra hard (asymmetric)
Bridgestone decided to bring asymmetric rear tires to Indianapolis because of the imbalance between the 10 left- and six right-handed corners, most of which are slow and short unlike the generally long, fast lefts.
TOHRU UBUKATA (Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tire Development): “Indianapolis is quite unique in that it features three kinds of track surface during a lap, from the oval track to the Formula One section and the MotoGP complex. The characteristics of these surfaces range from grippy and abrasive to quite slippery, so the diversity of track conditions makes it difficult for riders and tires. The circuit is very hard o the left side of the rear tires, which require good performance at high temperature and high wear resistance through the high-speed left corners, especially around the section of oval banking. The right side by contrast needs good warm-up performance to rapidly generate tire temperature and provide riders with a good, consistent feeling through the few right-hand corners. The rear tires we have selected are the inverse of those we brought to Catalunya; that is to say the same asymmetric compounds but with the harder compound on the left side.”
***
125cc FREE PRACTICE #2
At 9 a.m., the ambient temperature was 61 degrees F (16 C) with a relative humidity of 82 percent and calm winds. Skies were sunny.
•Quickest lap, Friday: 1:49.452, #93 Marc Marquez
9 a.m. – GREEN.
9:40 a.m. – CHECKERED. End of session.
***
Top Five Riders, 125cc Free Practice #2:
1. #93 Marc Marquez 1:48.424
2. #11 Sandro Cortese 1:48.495
3. #40 Nicolas Terol 1:48.646
4. #38 Bradley Smith 1:48.799
5. #14 Johann Zarco 1:49.174
Top trap speed: #11 Cortese, 141.4 mph (227.5 km/h)
***
MotoGP FREE PRACTICE #2
At 9:45 a.m., the ambient temperature was 68 degrees F (20 C) with a relative humidity of 73 percent and calm winds. Skies were sunny.
•Quickest lap, Friday: 1:40.884, #27 Casey Stoner
9:55 a.m. – GREEN.
10:15 a.m. -- #27 Stoner loses front end and slides off bike in Turn 6 into gravel trap. Stands without assistance and walks away from accident. Damage to bike, which flipped into gravel trap.
10:23 a.m. -- #27 Stoner back on track.
10:35 a.m. – #46 Rossi loses front end and slides off bike in Turn 10 to edge of track. Bike slides into grass. Rossi stands, remounts bike, continues to pits.
10:39 a.m. – #46 Rossi back on track.
10:52 a.m. -- #40 Barbera slides off bike in Turn 11, walks away from accident.
10:55 a.m. – CHECKERED. End of session.
***
Top Five Riders, MotoGP Free Practice #2:
1. #27 Casey Stoner 1:40.331
2. #26 Dani Pedrosa 1:40.389
3. #4 Andrea Dovizioso 1:40.432
4. #99 Jorge Lorenzo 1:40.642
5. #69 Nicky Hayden 1:40.878
Top trap speed: #27 Stoner, 198.2 mph (319.0 km/h)
Other Americans: #11 Ben Spies, sixth, 1:41.061; #5 Colin Edwards, eighth, 1:41.192.
The top nine riders in this session are within one second.
***
Veloce Racing team owner/manager Spiros Gabrilis talked about the condition of American 125cc wild-card rider Kris Turner, who crashed on the team’s bike during practice Friday. Turner will not race this weekend due to an injury suffered in the accident.
SPIROS GABRILIS: “Mercifully, the ankle is not broken. He has what they are calling a fibula crack. Obviously he will not ride this weekend. Our first question (Friday) was about a replacement rider. Unfortunately, because he is a wild-card rider, the rules do not permit us to bring in another rider because of the inability to confirm the rider’s qualifications.”
***
Harley-Davidson Motor Company has a display in the Manufacturers’ Area in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield during the 2010 Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix. This is the first year the motorcycle manufacturer has displayed at the MotoGP event, and Steve Piehl, Harley’s director of customer experience, is excited about the exposure given to their product on location at this historic racetrack.
STEVE PIEHL (Director, Customer Experience, Harley- Davidson Motor Company): "This is the first year that Harley-Davidson has had a display. I am really excited about being here. It's great to interact with both our customers and customers who are riding other brands. Indy has really become the hub of motorcycle racing this weekend with this event, the Mile (the Lucas Oil Indy Mile) and other racing going on around the area. As a leader in motorcycling, we wanted to be here. We are really happy with the number of people going through and checking out our display, and we are talking to people who are currently Harley riders and people who are dreaming about riding a Harley. I don't have any numbers yet, but we know the exposure has been good. We have a special display here that we do that celebrates both the XR1200, our hopped-up cool, 1200 Sportster motorcycle, and drag racing. We put two bikes up there, we give them a starting tree and they go racing on two bikes on a dyno (dynamometer). They have speedometers on the bikes so they can see how fast they are going, and they are running in the 100s (miles per hour). It really depends on the rider and their skill up there. They're doing a quarter of a mile so they've got to crank it to get their numbers up. Tonight at the Indy Mile, we'll have Kenny Coolbeth and our team, and lots of Harley riders will be coming out there. We hope that it's jam-packed with everybody coming to see one of the best forms of motorcycle racing in the world.”
***
Representatives from other vendors in the Manufacturers’ Area this weekend at IMS also spoke about their respective companies’ involvement:
WOODY CLARK (Events coordinator, KYMCO USA): “This is one of the motorsports events that we are getting more involved with. The crowds were great here Friday. Most every place we go, opening day is slow; but Friday we were really, really busy, especially from 10 in the morning until the MotoGP riders began their practice. Lots of people and lots of interested people stopped by. One thing that impresses me about this event is that the whole city embraces the Speedway. It’s well promoted, it’s on the news, and it seems to draw a lot of local people as well as people from all over the country.”
SARAH GILMAN (Sports marketing, American Automobile Association (AAA), Hoosier Motor Club): “This is the third year we have had a display here. We’ve been extremely pleased with the exposure each year. The first year we didn’t have a sense of the event, and last