Stoner leads opening free practice

Stoner moved to the top of the times in the first third of the session with a 1:30.927, a time only one other rider would beat before the session was over. But Stoner himself was not done, lowering his best with a third of the session remaining to a 1:30.094.

The only rider to get close to Stoner's best was newly-crowned world champion Valentino Rossi on his Yamaha, who set a time of 1:30.764 just a couple of minutes later, 0.670 seconds behind Stoner.

Behind the leading duo, the battle for times was remarkably tight. A couple of tenths behind Rossi, Alex de Angelis just edged out Andrea Dovizioso and Randy de Puniet for third-fastest time, the trio split by just 0.027 seconds on their Hondas.

Just behind them, sixth to twelfth in the times was split by two tenths of a second, headed by factory Honda rider Dani Pedrosa ahead of Shinya Nakano, Jorge Lorenzo, Loris Capirossi, James Toseland, Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards.

Having just re-signed to return to the Gresini Honda team, Alice Ducati rider Toni Elias set the slowest time behind the two Kawasakis of John Hopkins and Anthony West.

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  1:30.094
 2.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  1:30.764  + 0.670
 3.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  1:31.043  + 0.949
 4.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  1:31.051  + 0.957
 5.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  1:31.070  + 0.976
 6.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (B)  1:31.161  + 1.067
 7.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  1:31.221  + 1.127
 8.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  1:31.235  + 1.141
 9.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  1:31.248  + 1.154
10.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  1:31.277  + 1.183
11.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  1:31.284  + 1.190
12.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  1:31.368  + 1.274
13.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  1:31.532  + 1.438
14.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  1:31.719  + 1.625
15.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  1:31.803  + 1.709
16.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  1:31.814  + 1.720
17.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  1:32.211  + 2.117
18.  Toni Elías        Ducati    (B)  1:32.415  + 2.321