Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Stoner also tops final practice in Qatar

Casey Stoner carried on with his fine form in Qatar by also leading MotoGP's second and final free practice session.

The Ducati Marlboro rider shot to the top of the times after eight minutes of the 45-minute session and stayed there throughout, setting lap times up to seven tenths of a second better than the competition.

Stoner's final time of 1:56.310 was set with eleven minutes to go. Despite edging closer and closer, there was nothing reigning world champion Valentino Rossi could do to beat the Australian's time, who in the end was just shy of one tenth of a second ahead of the Fiat Yamaha rider in second spot.

While first and second spot didn't look to be challenged by anyone else, third spot was hard fought towards the end of the running. Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards looked set to end up third for most of the session, until his time was bettered in the closing stages by several other riders.

Loris Capirossi thus ended third quickest with his Rizla Suzuki, 0.288 behind Stoner, with Rossi's teammate Jorge Lorenzo fourth and Marco Melandri in an impressive fifth with the Hayate Kawasaki.

Andrea Dovizioso took his works Repsol-backed Honda to sixth spot, beating Chris Vermeulen's Suzuki in seventh and Edwards in eighth.

LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet was ninth quickest, with James Toseland's Tech 3 Yamaha rounding up the top ten.

Injured Dani Pedrosa improved slightly in this second session by ending up 14th with his Repsol Honda, just ahead of former teammate Nicky Hayden, whose works Ducati finished the session almost three seconds behind Stoner's after his GP9 suffered mechanical gremlins that made him lose time.

Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Casey Stoner Ducati 1:56.310 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1:56.406 + 0.096 3. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1:56.598 + 0.288 4. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1:56.649 + 0.339 5. Marco Melandri Kawasaki 1:57.135 + 0.825 6. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1:57.290 + 0.980 7. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1:57.576 + 1.266 8. Colin Edwards Yamaha 1:57.714 + 1.404 9. Randy de Puniet Honda 1:57.971 + 1.661 10. James Toseland Yamaha 1:58.125 + 1.815 11. Alex de Angelis Honda 1:58.152 + 1.842 12. Daniel Pedrosa Honda 1:58.349 + 2.039 13. Mika Kallio Ducati 1:58.361 + 2.051 14. Toni Elias Honda 1:58.618 + 2.308 15. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1:59.226 + 2.916 16. Yuki Takahashi Honda 1:59.340 + 3.030 17. Niccolo Canepa Ducati 1:59.564 + 3.254 18. Sete Gibernau Ducati 2:00.256 + 3.946

  • Stoner fastest on day two at Sepang
  • Burrell tweaks back during practice
  • MotoGP: Rossi blistering in opening practice
  • Lincecum nabs MLB 2K9 cover
  • No comments: