Dani Pedrosa leads rain-hit final Assen MotoGP practice as Casey Stoner crashes
Dani Pedrosa was quickest for Honda in the rain-disrupted final practice session for MotoGP's Dutch TT at Assen
Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo's Yamaha was second fastest, while Pedrosa's team-mate Casey Stoner crashed heavily during a rain shower, but escaped serious injury and was able to rejoin later.
Riders had only got a handful of laps in before the shower, which was brief but intense. Stoner came upon the suddenly wet track at the fast left-hander leading into the final chicane and had a violent high-side, from which he was able to walk away in some discomfort.
Going into the final quarter of an hour, Valentino Rossi (Ducati) was first to prove that slicks were viable, and soon the entire field was out on dry-weather rubber.
Pedrosa was able to beat Lorenzo's early 1m35.5s benchmark with a 1m34.587s, and then improved to a 1m34.522s, 0.161 seconds better than the best his Yamaha rival could manage in the late flurry of quick times.
Alvaro Bautista put his Gresini Honda third, ahead of the Tech 3 Yamahas of Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso.
Stoner got back out for a handful of laps at the end of the session and managed to get up to sixth place.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m34.522s 2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m34.683s + 0.161s 3. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m34.746s + 0.224s 4. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m35.069s + 0.547s 5. Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha 1m35.250s + 0.728s 6. Casey Stoner Honda 1m35.312s + 0.790s 7. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m35.400s + 0.878s 8. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m35.428s + 0.906s 9. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati 1m35.559s + 1.037s 10. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m35.640s + 1.118s 11. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m36.466s + 1.944s 12. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 1m36.663s + 2.141s 13. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 1m36.784s + 2.262s 14. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 1m37.707s + 3.185s 15. Michele Pirro Gresini FTR-Honda 1m37.765s + 3.243s 16. Yonny Hernandez Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m37.847s + 3.325s 17. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Aprilia 1m38.069s + 3.547s 18. James Ellison Paul Bird Aprilia 1m38.483s + 3.961s 19. Mattia Pasini Speed Master Aprilia 1m38.860s + 4.338s 20. Ivan Silva Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki 1m40.332s + 5.810s 21. Colin Edwards Forward Suter-BMW 1m40.683s + 6.161s
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