The third free training session in the morning saw Nicky Hayden setting the fifth best time and Dani Pedrosa the sixth, both a little over four tenths behind the Australian Stoner, who once again was the fastest on the Californian track. In the afternoon, in the qualifying session, Dani Pedrosa rapidly set times that would place him on the first or second row of the grid, whilst his team mate Hayden was a little further behind but always among the fastest ten riders.
In the last ten minutes and using classification tyres, Hayden moved up to the provisional second position, behind Casey Stoner. Pedrosa used his first classification tyre just before the final ten minutes of the session, although he could not use all its characteristics as he was put off slightly by Stoner. On his second attempt, the winner of the recent German GP was the fastest and got into pole position, but a couple of minutes later he was relegated to second on the grid after being bettered by Casey Stoner right at the end of the session. Hayden was also beaten by Vermeulen, and of course Stoner and Pedrosa, so he will be on the second row of the grid for tomorrow`s race.
