Casey Stoner still on top after second practice for Australian GP

The factory Honda rider set a 1m30.535s lap, which was a tenth slower than he had managed in the morning session, but more than enough to depose reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo from the top of the times. But the interesting aspect of Stoner's pace was how frequently, and apparently easily, he was able to produce it.

Lorenzo had set the early running with a 1m31.111s until Marco Simoncelli filed a wild lap of 1m30.912 that moved him to the front.

Then Stoner emerged from the pits with 20 minutes of the session gone and banged in a 1m30.689s. He followed that up with a 1m30.580s, and then eventually a 1m30.535s. That, as they say, was that.

Meanwhile Simoncelli dropped the Gresini-run factory Honda down at Turn 10 - just as he had in the first session. After that incident his speed, finally, appeared to be tinged by a hint of caution.

Lorenzo ended up third fastest ahead of his factory Yamaha team-mate Ben Spies. Dani Pedrosa was 1.5s slower than team-mate Stoner in fifth ahead of Hiroshi Aoyama on the other Gresini bike.

Randy de Puniet put the Pramac Ducati up in seventh ahead of Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista, Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) and Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) in a lowly 10th.

The factory Ducatis again appeared to struggle with Nicky Hayden 11th and Valentino Rossi 13th, split by Briton Cal Crutchlow (Tech 3).

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike       Time       Gap
 1.  Casey Stoner      Honda           1m30.535s
 2.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda   1m30.912s  + 0.377s
 3.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha          1m31.111s  + 0.576s
 4.  Ben Spies         Yamaha          1m31.495s  + 0.960s
 5.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda           1m31.543s  + 1.008s
 6.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Gresini Honda   1m31.582s  + 1.047s
 7.  Randy de Puniet   Pramac Ducati   1m31.670s  + 1.135s
 8.  Alvaro Bautista   Suzuki          1m31.777s  + 1.242s
 9.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha   1m31.805s  + 1.270s
10.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda           1m31.825s  + 1.290s
11.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati          1m31.899s  + 1.364s
12.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha   1m31.969s  + 1.434s
13.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati          1m32.014s  + 1.479s
14.  Loris Capirossi   Pramac Ducati   1m32.082s  + 1.547s
15.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati  1m32.360s  + 1.825s
16.  Toni Elias        LCR Honda       1m32.639s  + 2.104s
17.  Damian Cudlin     Aspar Ducati    1m33.658s  + 3.123s