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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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