Suspension problems leave Barbera only in 16th position after qualifying

The home crowd at Indianapolis were treated to an American battle for pole today as Ben Spies and Nicky Hayden overcame the dominance of Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner at Indianapolis to stake their claim for glory. Spies celebrated his debut pole with a late effort but tomorrow’s MotoGP race could see four or five candidates for victory in what promises to be a fascinating affair from start to finish.

Things didn’t go to plan for Páginas Amarillas rider Héctor Barberá this afternoon, the rookie lapping a full second slower than he had managed in free practice. Hector has been setting a consistent pace in the 1’41s up until qualifying, when he lost feeling for his second bike and struggled to make any improvements. His best lap of the session – a 1’41.896 – came moments from the end but it was only enough for sixteenth place on the grid. However, his practice pace and the fact he registered the highest top speed today, his Ducati hitting 318km/h, gives him hope for tomorrow.

16th Héctor Barberá 1.41.896 (27 laps): “I was quite close to the top guys yesterday and I rode well this morning too, I was really happy. However, I went out on my second bike for the afternoon session because that’s the one we’re supposed to be using for the race and the suspension wasn’t right – I ran wide in a lot of corners. Nothing we tried seemed to fix it so we switched back to the other bike and even though it felt a little better I still struggled. The time flew by and I missed the opportunity to improve my position. It was a shame because things were looking so good this morning and I’m disappointed to be starting from the back but at the same time looking at the positives. I came through from the back to score a good result in the last race and I have the pace to do it again so I’m looking forward to getting started.”

Source: Aspar Ducati Team