Stoner heads second free practice
Ducati's Casey Stoner topped the second free practice session at Shanghai for Sunday's Chinese round of the MotoGP championship, just edging out his nearest rivals
Stoner topped the times early in the session, and set a benchmark of 2:00.163 just over a third of the way through the hour-long session. Despite his own efforts and those of his competitors, no-one was able to better the time and the time stood as the fastest of the session.
His rivals got quite close however, with Valentino Rossi chipping away at it through the middle of the session, setting the second fastest time of 2:00.215 with just over 20 minutes remaining for a Bridgestone 1-2.
Less than two tenths behind Stoner in third fastest was Dani Pedrosa on his Repsol Honda. Fourth fastest with a time set in the dying minutes of the session was Shinya Nakano on his Gresini Honda, just ahead of Kawasaki's John Hopkins and the second Repsol Honda of Nicky Hayden, the top six all within half a second of Stoner's time.
Gresini Honda's Alex de Angelis, Suzuki's Loris Capirossi, Team Scot Honda's Andrea Dovizioso and Yamaha's Colin Edwards completed the top ten, less than a second off the pace.
Marco Melandri's pace improved greatly in the second session, setting the 14th fastest time just behind James Toseland, exactly one and three quarter seconds slower than teammate Stoner, three seconds better than his effort in opening practice.
Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) 2:00.163 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) 2:00.215 + 0.052 3. Dani Pedrosa Honda (M) 2:00.361 + 0.198 4. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) 2:00.553 + 0.390 5. John Hopkins Kawasaki (B) 2:00.591 + 0.428 6. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) 2:00.607 + 0.444 7. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) 2:00.931 + 0.768 8. Loris Capirossi Suzuki (B) 2:00.964 + 0.801 9. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) 2:01.027 + 0.864 10. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) 2:01.064 + 0.901 11. Toni Elías Ducati (B) 2:01.326 + 1.163 12. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) 2:01.504 + 1.341 13. James Toseland Yamaha (M) 2:01.798 + 1.635 14. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) 2:01.913 + 1.750 15. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) 2:02.002 + 1.839 16. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) 2:02.348 + 2.185 17. Randy de Puniet Honda (M) 2:02.407 + 2.244
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