Stoner beats Hondas in practice two

For most of the season the lead had been swapped between Spanish rivals Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) and Dani Pedrosa (Honda).

But with five minutes to go, they were usurped by Pedrosa's Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, who produced a 1m40.432s lap to beat previous pacesetter Lorenzo by 0.2 seconds.

Stoner had endured a fraught session - first a knee-slider flew off after he clipped a kerb early on, then he crashed under braking for Turn 6 and slid deep into the gravel.

Once back out on his spare bike, Stoner was on the pace again and closed to within 0.004s of Dovizioso with his penultimate lap.

Pedrosa then usurped Dovizioso at the front and established a Honda one-two for a few moments before the closely-following Stoner put Ducati on top with a 1m40.331s lap.

Behind the Hondas, Lorenzo found himself fourth, followed by Nicky Hayden on the second works Ducati.

Tech 3 Yamaha continued its strong form on its riders' home ground as Ben Spies and Colin Edwards took sixth and eighth, split by Gresini Honda rider Marco Simoncelli.

Valentino Rossi was a low-key ninth though as his tough weekend continued. He crashed his Yamaha near the end, but without causing further damage to his previous injuries.

Pramac Ducati's Aleix Espargaro took the final top 10 spot ahead of Aspar's Hector Barbera, the only other man to fall during the hour.

Pos  Rider             Team               Time       Gap
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati             1m40.331s
 2.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda              1m40.389s  + 0.058s
 3.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda              1m40.432s  + 0.101s
 4.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha             1m40.642s  + 0.311s
 5.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati             1m40.878s  + 0.547s
 6.  Ben Spies         Tech 3 Yamaha      1m41.061s  + 0.730s
 7.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda      1m41.136s  + 0.805s
 8.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha      1m41.192s  + 0.861s
 9.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha             1m41.232s  + 0.901s
10.  Aleix Espargaro   Pramac Ducati      1m41.354s  + 1.023s
11.  Hector Barbera    Aspar Ducati       1m41.390s  + 1.059s
12.  Alvaro Bautista   Suzuki             1m41.715s  + 1.384s
13.  Marco Melandri    Gresini Honda      1m41.783s  + 1.452s
14.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda          1m41.876s  + 1.545s
15.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati      1m41.922s  + 1.591s
16.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki             1m41.975s  + 1.644s
17.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Interwetten Honda  1m42.517s  + 2.186s