Stoner fastest on second night in Qatar

Casey Stoner moved to the top of the timesheets on the second night of testing in Qatar, but stuck to short runs again as he continued to recover from wrist surgery.

After most of Sunday night's session was lost to a surprise rainstorm, the penultimate winter test got underway in earnest this evening in cool and dry conditions.

Reigning champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) led the way for the first half of the night before Stoner produced a 1:57.139 on his Ducati to beat the Italian by 0.6 seconds. But as had been the case in Malaysia last month, Stoner limited himself to around six laps at a time while building up strength in his wrist following last year's recurrent injury and subsequent operation.

The main incident of the night was the accident that ended Dani Pedrosa's participation in the test. The Honda rider hurt his left knee and hand - both of which had required surgery after crashes in 2008 - when he went off at Turn 10 four hours into the session.

Colin Edwards completed the top three in an impressive performance on the Tech 3 Yamaha, ahead of Pedrosa's teammate Andrea Dovizioso.

The two Suzukis were fifth and sixth, with Chris Vermeulen slightly quicker than Loris Capirossi despite a minor accident early on.

Pramac Ducati's Mika Kallio was the other rider to have a fall and was back in 16th, only beating Tech 3's James Toseland, who had himself crashed heavily in the previous test at Sepang.

Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) continued to struggle slightly with the transition to Bridgestone tyres in seventh place, while Sunday pace-setter Nicky Hayden fell to ninth for Ducati, behind Gresini Honda's Alex de Angelis.

Pos Rider Bike Time Laps 1. Casey Stoner Ducati 1:57.139 37 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1:57.747 51 3. Colin Edwards Yamaha 1:57.817 41 4. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1:57.879 60 5. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1:58.018 24 6. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1:58.264 42 7. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1:58.400 63 8. Alex de Angelis Honda 1:58.441 53 9. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1:58.577 54 10. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1:58.619 28 11. Randy De Puniet Honda 1:58.936 55 12. Toni Elias Honda 1:59.036 56 13. Yuki Takahashi Honda 1:59.153 65 14. Marco Melandri Kawasaki 1:59.195 63 15. Niccolo Canepa Ducati 1:59.266 36 16. Mika Kallio Ducati 1:59.764 48 17. James Toseland Yamaha 2:00.234 51

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