Yamaha's Ben Spies bagged top spot in this morning's opening MotoGP free practice at Estoril in a session that was not dissimilar to the first period at Jerez a week ago with tentative laps completed at the start but this time the full complement of riders was out at the end.
Spies was on track for the full 45 minutes, trying to get as much track time as possible and starting on wets before switching to the soft-compound Bridgestones as the tarmac dried out. His 1'40.813, set on lap 17 of 17, took the lead away from compatriot Nicky Hayden by a quarter of a second while Valentino Rossi was third 1'41.502.
Reigning World Champion Casey Stoner put in six laps to go fourth but is a second off the pace. Alvaro Bautista was fifth and three tenths behind the factory Honda man with Cal Crutchlow in sixth. His team-mate Andrea Dovizioso was seventh, Dani Pedrosa eighth, Yonny Hernandez ninth and Karel Abraham rounded out the top ten. Britain's James Ellison only completed five laps on the PBM Aprilia while birthday boy Jorge Lorenzo didn't turn a wheel.
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