Stoner dominates first practice

The world champion went six tenths of a second faster than anyone else with his penultimate lap of the session, as the majority of the field set their best laps in the dying minutes.

Honda riders led the charge behind the Australian, as Marco Melandri and Dani Pedrosa were next up. Behind them, only two more riders were able to get within one second of Stoner's time.

Alex Barros was knocked down to fourth place by Pedrosa's final lap of the session, while Chris Vermeulen completed the top five for Suzuki.

Valentino Rossi was one of the riders who didn't improve at the end of the session, and the Italian finished in sixth place, as the second fastest Michelin runner behind Pedrosa.

While nine tenths of a second covered the top five on the timesheets, the same margin covered Rossi in sixth all the way down to Chaz Davies in 18th.

Pos  Rider               Bike       Time               Laps
 1.  Casey Stoner        Ducati     1:33.083            25
 2.  Marco Melandri      Honda      1:33.762  + 0.679   25
 3.  Dani Pedrosa        Honda      1:33.881  + 0.798   27
 4.  Alex Barros         Ducati     1:33.979  + 0.896   25
 5.  Chris Vermeulen     Suzuki     1:34.059  + 0.976   28
 6.  Valentino Rossi     Yamaha     1:34.102  + 1.019   29
 7.  Nicky Hayden        Honda      1:34.226  + 1.143   29
 8.  Loris Capirossi     Ducati     1:34.242  + 1.159   25
 9.  Colin Edwards       Yamaha     1:34.259  + 1.176   26
10.  John Hopkins        Suzuki     1:34.315  + 1.232   29
11.  Carlos Checa        Honda      1:34.324  + 1.241   27
12.  Toni Elias          Honda      1:34.363  + 1.280   27
13.  Sylvain Guintoli    Yamaha     1:34.420  + 1.337   29
14.  Makoto Tamada       Yamaha     1:34.549  + 1.466   29
15.  Randy De Puniet     Kawasaki   1:34.563  + 1.480   30
16.  Shinya Nakano       Honda      1:34.577  + 1.494   28
17.  Anthony West        Kawasaki   1:35.000  + 1.917   27
18.  Chaz Davies         Ducati     1:35.029  + 1.946   20
19.  Kurtis Roberts      Kr212V     1:35.404  + 2.321   24