After having surgery to put his kneecap back together, Alessi returned to action in practice today in Colorado, only 19 days after sustaining his injury. Despite missing the High Point round, he’s only 19 points out of the points lead, behind teammate Chad Reed. Alessi believes if he didn’t make it for this round, he would have no chance at the championship at all.
He limped noticeably before practice and, as he sat on his bike on the starting line awaiting his first practice of the day, he put all of his weight on his right leg instead of the left one he has injured. Actually, he wouldn’t even put the left foot on the ground.
However, so far Alessi has been in noticeable pain and has failed to put in times representative of his healthy speed. At the end of two rounds of practice, Alessi sits 28th on the list of times, which gives him the 28th gate pick in both motos. He’s a little over six seconds per lap slower than the fastest qualifier in the 450cc class, Josh Grant, who has a 2:14.140.
Alessi is going to try and tough it out for the motos, but it’s not going to be easy, as it’s likely going to take an excellent start from a bad starting position to start with – and make no mistake, if anyone can do it, Alessi can. However, there’s also the issue of him apparently not being able to put weight on the left leg, and his starting technique – the best in the world, hands down – relies on starting with his weight even (from side to side) and both feet down.
Honda Red Bull Racing’s Andrew Short was second fastest in practice, in front of teammate Ivan Tedesco, then TLD/Lucas Oil/PPG Honda’s Jake Moss, and Grant’s JGR/Toyota Yamaha teammate Cody Cooper.
Points leader Chad Reed is way back in 11th spot after practice with a time about three seconds off the leader in his first race ever at Thunder Valley.
In the 250 class, points leader Christophe Pourcel was fastest, about a half-second in front of Martin Davalos, in his first race back from injury. Then came Broc Tickle, Justin Barcia and Wil Hahn. Ryan Dungey, like his teammate Reed, is way back in 11th place after practice, about two and a half seconds behind Pourcel.
For photos of Mike Alessi from today click here
