Casey Stoner continues perfect US Grand Prix weekend by being fastest in Sunday's morning's warm-up session at Laguna Seca.

By Lynne Huntting

Casey Stoner was again the track meister at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Sunday morning, during a foggy MotoGP warm-up session.

The reigning world champion waited to work his way up, eventually setting his fastest time of 1min 22.085secs on his second to last of 12 laps. That lap was faster than his circuit record set last year, of 1min 22.542secs, and placed him 0.598secs ahead of his nearest rival this morning.

World championship leader Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha), Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki), Marco Melandri (Ducati Team) and Sylvain Guintoli (Alice Team) rounded out the top five riders of the 18 in the field.

The temperatures were chilly - 12 degrees C/53 F ambient, with track temperature of 14C/57F. While the fog didn't affect visibility, it was palpable and the track was slippery.

Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden admitted on Saturday afternoon that for that morning's practice, he went out on intermediates for most of the session because the track was so slippery. This saved his best slicks for the important qualifying session in the warmer, dryer afternoon session.

The "Kentucky Kid" said he planned to do it again Sunday morning. Hayden, 2006 MotoGP champion, joked that there was no law against it so far, but someone would probably change that now. However, Sunday morning Hayden rode on slicks. He was ninth in the session.

Jamie Hacking, replacing injured John Hopkins at Kawasaki, was eleventh fastest in MotoGP warm-up, with wild-card rider, Ben Spies in twelfth for Rizla Suzuki.

Immediately following MotoGP warm-up, Hacking and Spies ran the AMA Superbike qualifying session. Spies earned the Superbike pole for the 28-lap race, which follows the MotoGP race Sunday afternoon.

Spies' AMA Superbike pole lap was 1min 23.129secs. His MotoGP qualifying lap was 1min 22.127secs, and he will start thirteenth - fifth row.

Hacking will start fifth for the Superbike race, turning a 1min 24.247secs. In the MotoGP race, Hacking will start 17th, with a lap of 1min 23.309secs on the ZX-RR.

The typical summer early morning Northern California fog is expected to lift by noon, with mild sunny weather in the afternoon.