Stoner tops Sepang warm-up

Stoner went to the top of the times after eleven minutes of the session, and despite being dislodged once by each of the Repsol Honda riders, Stoner reclaimed the fastest time for good with a 2:02.052 with five minutes remaining.

Less than half a second behind Stoner were a pair of Hondas, the Repsol Honda of pole man Dani Pedrosa a tenth ahead of the Gresini Honda of Marco Melandri. Both riders took a turn at the top of the times during the session and look well placed for the race.

After a disappointing qualifying session, Suzuki's John Hopkins was fourth fastest in the warm-up, doing a faster lap than he managed in yesterday's qualifying session, to edge out Nicky Hayden's Honda.

Completing the top ten were five riders on Bridgestone tyres, Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet in sixth ahead of Ducati's Loris Capirossi, Gresini's Toni Elias, Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen and Kawasaki's Anthony West.

After topping the warm-up ten minutes into the session, the early promise for Yamaha's Valentino Rossi faded during the session, only able to set the eleventh fastest time, 1.24 seconds off Stoner's fastest lap, his teammate Colin Edwards right behind him.

Pos  Rider             Make           Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  2:02.052 
 2.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (M)  2:02.421 + 0.369
 3.  Marco Melandri    Honda     (B)  2:02.530 + 0.478
 4.  John Hopkins      Suzuki    (B)  2:02.645 + 0.593
 5.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  2:02.689 + 0.637
 6.  Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki  (B)  2:02.818 + 0.766
 7.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati    (B)  2:02.927 + 0.875
 8.  Toni Elias        Honda     (B)  2:02.995 + 0.943
 9.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  2:03.034 + 0.982
10.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  2:03.152 + 1.100
11.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (M)  2:03.292 + 1.240
12.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  2:03.400 + 1.348
13.  Alex Barros       Ducati    (B)  2:03.652 + 1.600
14.  Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha    (D)  2:04.094 + 2.042
15.  Carlos Checa      Honda     (M)  2:04.141 + 2.089
16.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (M)  2:04.411 + 2.359
17.  Chaz Davies       Ducati    (B)  2:04.445 + 2.393
18.  Nobuatsu Aoki     Suzuki    (B)  2:04.509 + 2.457
19.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha    (D)  2:05.551 + 3.499
20.  Kurtis Roberts    KR212V    (M)  2:40.911 +38.859