Bradl leads practice on first day at Sachsenring

The first day of practice ahead of the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland was a crash fest with a raft of riders hitting the German tarmac in both free practice sessions. However, while others faltered Stefan Bradl impressed in front of his home fans with the German rider securing the fastest time on day one for the LCR Honda team while Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez ended day one in second and third respectively. Bradl’s best lap of 1m 22.030s was unassailable with Pedrosa on a best time of 1m 22.239s and Marquez with a 1m 22.251s lap.

The morning session saw big falls from Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Cal Crutchlow as well as Energy TI Pramac man Andrea Iannone and also for Andrea Dovisioso on the Factory Racing Ducati. All three riders were ok following medical check ups but the same could not be said for their machines that were sent flying through the gravel. The afternoon session was no better when, after just seven minutes, Jorge Lorenzo had a massive high-side crash that saw the Spaniard coming down heavily on his injured left collarbone that he broke last time out in Assen.

Lorenzo’s crash saw the red flag coming out so the marshals could retrieve his Yamaha Factory Racing YZR-M1 and it looked like the incidents had finished for the day but it wasn’t so when Crutchlow once again pushed his machine to the limit and lost the front of the satellite YZR-M1 at the famous ‘Waterfall’ turn and like Lorenzo, Crutchlow went straight to the medical center for checks. Updates from the Medical center were slow but it is believed that Lorenzo may have damaged the plate on his left collarbone and might have to undergo surgery once again.

Despite the fall, Lorenzo was still fourth fastest on a best lap of 1m 22.252s and just ahead of teammate Valentino Rossi who is still riding high after his victory last time out in Assen and the now 80 times MotoGP race winner was circulating well within the pace of the front men and sitting in fifth place with a best lap of 1m 22.395s with Ducati’s Nicky Hayden one place behind with a time of 1m 22.572s. Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaro (1m 22.763s) continues to make a case for grabbing a satellite rider next year with the CRT man once again circulating well ahead of other prototype and factory machinery.

Dovizioso was able to go back on track in the afternoon session but the Italian couldn’t get up to speed on his second bike and set the 8th best time of 1m 22.850s that was better than 9th place man Alvaro Bautista (Go&Fun Honda Gresini) who set a best time of 1m 22.976s. The final place in the top ten went to Iannone who was also able to go back on track this afternoon following his morning excursion. Bradley Smith ended the first day in 11th on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bike with a best lap of 1m 23.040s while sitting in 12th place on the timing screens is Randy De Puniet with a lap time of 1m 23.255s.

Michele Pirro is once again filling in for the injured Ben Spies on the Ignite Pramac Racing machine and the Italian ended day one in 13th place (1m 23.491s) while Yonny Hernandez was close behind on the Paul Bird Motorsport entry with a best lap of 1m 23.524s. Hector Barbera ended his first day in 15th for the Avintia Blusens team with the Spaniard on a best lap of 1m 23.627s that was just better than that of Michael Laverty’s best time of 1m 23.636s for the Paul Bird Motorsport team. Danilo Petrucci finished in 17th spot today with time of 1m 23.866s on the Came IodaRacing Project bike while NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards ended day one 18th spot with a best lap of 1m 23.911s.

Crutchlow’s best time of 1m 23.932s sees the British rider remain in the top 20 while Claudio Corti rounded off the top 20 for the NGM Mobile Forward Racing team on a best time of 1m 24.078s. Hiroshi Aoyama returns this weekend after a long lay off with an injury and the Avintia Blusens man ended day one with a best time of 1m 24.647s that was good enough to stay ahead of Go&Fun Honda Gresini CRT rider Bryan Staring (1m 24.862s), Came IodaRacing Project’s Lukas Pesek (1m 25.568s) and Karel Abraham also returns to action this weekend for the Cardion AB Motoracing squad but the Czech rider had to sit out this afternoon after catching a flu.