Jorge Lorenzo fastest in opening practice session at Assen
Yamaha's world championship leader Jorge Lorenzo beat the Hondas to the fastest time in the opening MotoGP free practice session for the Dutch TT at Assen
Honda's Casey Stoner had dominated most of the morning's practice, setting an early 1m35.465s lap that left the rest squabbling over second - a position held in turn by Lorenzo, the Tech 3 Yamaha of Andrea Dovizioso, Stoner's team-mate Dani Pedrosa, Gresini Honda rider Alvaro Bautista, 2011 Assen winner Ben Spies (Yamaha) and then Lorenzo again.
The championship leader closed to within 0.085 seconds of the world champion, only for the Australian to improve to a 1m35.181s and reopen a 0.369s cushion.
But on Lorenzo's final run he first got Stoner's advantage down to 0.032s then threw in a 1m35.106s lap to grab practice one honours.
Pedrosa then squeezed in between Lorenzo and Stoner with a lap 0.026s off the pace, as just 0.075s covered the top three.
Spies ended up fourth, followed by the leading Ducati of Nicky Hayden, Bautista, Pramac Ducati's Hector Barbera, Tech 3 duo Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow, and the second works Ducati of Valentino Rossi in 10th.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m35.206s 2. Daniel Pedrosa Honda 1m35.126s + 0.020s 3. Casey Stoner Honda 1m35.181s + 0.075s 4. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m35.555s + 0.449s 5. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m35.841s + 0.735s 6. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m35.867s + 0.761s 7. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati 1m35.970s + 0.864s 8. Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha 1m35.995s + 0.889s 9. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m36.031s + 0.925s 10. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m36.084s + 0.978s 11. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m36.737s + 1.631s 12. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 1m37.187s + 2.081s 13. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 1m37.365s + 2.259s 14. Michele Pirro Gresini FTR-Honda 1m37.771s + 2.665s 15. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 1m37.850s + 2.774s 16. Mattia Pasini Speed Master Aprilia 1m38.642s + 3.536s 17. Yonni Hernandez Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m38.649s + 3.543s 18. Colin Edwards Forward Suter-BMW 1m39.076s + 3.970s 19. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Aprilia 1m39.385s + 4.279s 20. James Ellison Paul Bird Aprilia 1m39.495s + 4.389s 21. Ivan Silva Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki 1m39.530s + 4.424s
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