Stoner tops final Mugello practice

The Ducati rider lapped in 1m49.323s on only his fifth lap of the morning, beating Jorge Lorenzo's Friday-topping time - which was itself under the lap record - by 0.2 seconds.

Stoner's mark remained unbeatable for the rest of the hour, despite the Australian later having a low-side crash, although Lorenzo eventually closed to within 0.027s of the Ducati. Valentino Rossi, who is chasing an eighth straight Mugello win, was third.

Toni Elias jumped to a surprise fourth for Gresini Honda with his final lap, pushing Suzuki's Loris Capirossi back to fifth, ahead of Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) and the two factory Hondas.

While one works Ducati led the way, the other propped up the order, with Nicky Hayden slowest of all as his troubled season failed to improve on the team's home ground.

But there was encouragement for another struggling Ducati rider, as Pramac's Niccolo Canepa showed how much his lack of circuit knowledge has previously held him back by taking 12th. The Italian rookie has been mired at the tail of the field for most of 2009 so far, but knows Mugello well from his days as a Ducati test rider.

Pos  Rider             Bike             Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati           1m49.323s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha           1m49.350s  + 0.027s
 3.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha           1m49.517s  + 0.194s
 4.  Toni Elias        Gresini Honda    1m49.954s  + 0.631s
 5.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki           1m49.981s  + 0.658s
 6.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha    1m50.034s  + 0.711s
 7.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda            1m50.036s  + 0.713s
 8.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda            1m50.154s  + 0.831s
 9.  Alex de Angelis   Gresini Honda    1m50.364s  + 1.041s
10.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda        1m50.617s  + 1.294s
11.  James Toseland    Tech 3 Yamaha    1m51.017s  + 1.694s
12.  Niccolo Canepa    Pramac Ducati    1m51.313s  + 1.990s
13.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki           1m51.342s  + 2.019s
14.  Yuki Takahashi    Scot Honda       1m51.392s  + 2.069s
15.  Marco Melandri    Hayate Kawasaki  1m51.400s  + 2.077s
16.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati    1m51.723s  + 2.400s
17.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati           1m52.108s  + 2.785s