Stoner also tops Assen warm-up

Reigning champion Casey Stoner topped the times in the warm-up session ahead of this afternoon's Dutch TT at Assen, where yesterday he qualified in pole position.

The Ducati Marlboro rider jumped to top spot around the mid-point of the 25-minute session, when all the riders started looking for the limits on a very wet track in damp and cold conditions.

With seven minutes to go Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden set the then-fastest lap of the session with a 1:48.608, only to be beaten four minutes later by his teammate Dani Pedrosa who went 0.076 seconds faster.

But in the last minute of the session Stoner managed to be the first man to go under the one minute 48 limit with a 1:47.793, and further improved to a 1:47.583 with the time had already expired.

Meanwhile Hayden managed to take second, 0.304 seconds behind Stoner, pushing Fiat Yamaha's Velentino Rossi to third, a further 0.360 seconds back.

Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen set the fourth fastest time ahead of the other works Yamaha of Jorge Lorenzo and Pedrosa.

Stoner's teammate Marco Melandri, who qualified last yesterday, finally managed to have a good session in the Netherlands by going seventh fastest, albeit 1.7 seconds behind the Australian.

The top ten was completed by Honda Gresini's Shinya Nakano, Tech 3 Yamaha's James Toseland, and LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet, who suffered a crash in the gravel during the last ten minutes of the session.

Only 16 riders took part in the warm-up after Suzuki's Loris Capirossi and Kawasaki's John Hopkins were sidelined through injuries sustained in crashes earlier this weekend.

Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) 1:47.583 2. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) 1:47.887 + 0.304 3. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) 1:48.247 + 0.664 4. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) 1:48.500 + 0.917 5. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) 1:48.504 + 0.921 6. Daniel Pedrosa Honda (M) 1:48.532 + 0.949 7. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) 1:49.368 + 1.785 8. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) 1:49.635 + 2.052 9. James Toseland Yamaha (M) 1:50.131 + 2.548 10. Randy de Puniet Honda (M) 1:50.326 + 2.743 11. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) 1:50.429 + 2.846 12. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) 1:50.977 + 3.394 13. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) 1:51.031 + 3.448 14. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) 1:51.042 + 3.459 15. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) 1:51.596 + 4.013 16. Toni Elias Ducati (B) 1:54.793 + 7.210

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