Henny Ray Abrams | July 5, 2009
Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo will be out to score points in Sunday’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix after the morning practice confirmed he likely won’t be fighting for the win.Lorenzo suffered a separated right shoulder and broken bone in his foot in a spectacular high-side during qualifying at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The crash was his second of the session, with both in the same corner; the downhill right hand turn ten.Lorenzo had to be taken by ambulance to the medical center and later arrived for the front row press conference in a wheelchair with his right arm in a sling. He said he would ride in the morning warm-up to determine his fitness for the race.His times for most of the session put him in the lower half of the order, but on his 10th lap he jumped up to fifth place and only .719 secs. behind Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner. The last of his 13 laps, a 1:22.512, would solidify his fifth place at a gap of .594 secs. to Stoner, who only ran six laps. Behind Stoner came teammate Valentino Rossi, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards, and Lorenzo.With the race being 32 laps, Lorenzo may not be able to maintain his morning pace, but any points he scores will be a bonus considering the severity of his crash.Lorenzo arrived in Monterey trailing Rossi by five points, 131 to 126, in the championship after finishing second to him in the previous two races in Barcelona and Assen.
Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor
Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.
