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Stoner fastest again as Qatar test ends

Casey Stoner ended the Qatar test at the top of the timesheets, having dominated the final night at the Losail track

The Ducati rider, who had also been quickest at Sepang last month, was 0.989 seconds clear of second-placed Jorge Lorenzo, whose Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi completed the top three.

Once again Stoner limited his mileage, focusing on short runs and only completing 31 laps as he continues to recover from his winter wrist surgery. He had a minor fall at Turn 2, but escaped without injury or significant bike damage.

Lorenzo's second place was an encouraging result after the Spaniard had previously struggled to get to grips with the now mandatory Bridgestone tyres. He was 0.239 seconds quicker than Rossi.

Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi continued Suzuki's strong winter form in fourth and sixth places, despite a crash for Capirossi during the evening.

They were split by Nicky Hayden, who took a promising fifth place - albeit 1.5 seconds adrift of his Ducati teammate Stoner.

Pramac Ducati's Niccolo Canepa and Scot Honda's Yuki Takahashi were the other riders to fall during tonight's session, but both rookies were unharmed.

Only 16 riders took part in the final day, with Honda's Dani Pedrosa having flown back to Barcelona for further medical checks after aggravating knee and wrist injuries in a crash yesterday. Sete Gibernau (Onde Ducati) sat out the entire test due to a shoulder problem.

There is now a three-and-a-half week break before the final pre-season test at Jerez on 28-29 March, with the MotoGP season commencing back in Qatar on 12 April.

Pos  Rider             Bike      Time      Laps
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    1:55.744  31
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    1:56.733  82
 3.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    1:56.972  75
 4.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    1:57.224  70
 5.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati    1:57.225  53
 6.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    1:57.253  42
 7.  Randy De Puniet   Honda     1:57.401  77
 8.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     1:57.449  74
 9.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    1:57.515  46
10.  Alex De Angelis   Honda     1:57.591  61
11.  Toni Elias        Honda     1:57.804  66
12.  Mika Kallio       Ducati    1:57.938  54
13.  Niccolo Canepa    Ducati    1:57.946  50
14.  Yuki Takahashi    Honda     1:58.412  61
15.  James Toseland    Yamaha    1:58.786  51
16.  Marco Melandri    Kawasaki  1:58.851  73

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