US MotoGP: Ben Spies confident big gap can be reduced

Ben Spies is confident he can get closer to the fastest pace in Laguna Seca after he finished the opening day of practice for his home MotoGP round in fifth position.

Spies finished over half-a-second off the best time in both practice sessions having set a personal best time of 1.22.615.

That was 0.559s slower than factory Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, but when asked by MCN if the gap was a worry ahead of Sunday’s 32-lap race, the Texan said: “I’m not happy but I know we have half-a-second in the bike. That’s where I’m positive because I feel good on the bike. It’s good in some areas but really bad in others. 

“We know from Jorge the bike is capable of it and I feel the bike is capable, so we just need to fix it in some areas. If we are half-a-second off after qualifying then it’s a worry but we’ve got plenty of time to fix it.”

Spies explained where he felt the improvements could be made and he said: “In the faster corners where we have a lot of load with the bike, I don’t really like the front feeling. It is not turning quite as good.  Mainly from the Corkscrew down we are having few problems but it all can be fixed. If we can do the fast time we have a great package for the race. But I just need to improve the front and I’ll be happy.”