Stoner angry with slower riders

He qualified second for the race with a superb late effort, having spent most of the session just inside the top 10.

However, the 2007 world champion believes he could have gone faster had he not been hampered by riders deliberately slowing down on-track in order to drop in behind his Ducati and gain a tow on the long start/finish straight.

"There are just so many riders out there waiting for a tow," he said. "It's like being back on a 125 and it's starting to get ridiculous. People need to stop doing that and instead go out and do things for themselves.

"They don't just follow you and slot in behind either. They make sure they stuff you up on the next lap too. And I really wasn't able to do the lap I thought I could."

Stoner's outburst came just 24 hours after accusing Suzuki rider Loris Capirossi of blocking him during the first practice session.

The Australian said that the reason he spent most of the session on the fringes of the top 10 was that the team had gone the wrong way on set-up decisions, but had reverted back to tried and tested settings for the final few minutes.

"We were generally happy with the race pace this morning, even if we still need to find a few more tenths," he added. "But we decided to go a different direction for qualifying and it just didn't end up being the right thing.

"Because we didn't have the morning set-up, we struggled with the bike more than we expected, but when we went back to the old settings, it was much better."