Australia MotoGP: Casey Stoner blitzes field in first practice

Yamaha's championship leader Jorge Lorenzo was the only rider able to get within one second of the Australian, while the session's two slowest riders were outside the 107 per cent mark.

The Australian, who admitted his injuries had worsened coming into his home track, wasted little time getting up to speed.

Within four laps he had got down to a 1m31.046s, which itself would have been good enough to seal top spot.

After Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa and then Lorenzo got close to that benchmark in the final 10 minutes however he shaved more than half a second off his previous best, ending with a 1m30.374s.

Lorenzo and Pedrosa were left trailing as a result, while the rest of the field were more than 1.5s in arrears.

Tech 3's Andrea Dovizioso was fourth fastest ahead of Gresini's Andrea Bautista and team-mate Cal Crutchlow, struggling with bronchitis and fever this weekend.

Ducati's Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi then occupied seventh and ninth, sandwiching the LCR Honda of Stefan Bradl.

Rossi, like Stoner a five-time winner at the circuit, was 2.2s down on the overall pace.

Alongside a short shower around the halfway mark, which led to a temporary lull in proceedings, there were precious few incidents.

Pedrosa almost suffered a massive highside however, as Crutchlow - only yards ahead on the circuit - hit a wet patch with his knee, flicking up a spray which surprised Pedrosa and forced him to snatch at his bike, causing a wobble he was ultimately able to save.

The incident followed moments after Gresini's Michele Pirro, confirmed as Ducati's official test rider next year, suffered his own highside exiting Honda hairpin. He was able to hold on but veered off track and went down in the grass.

Pos  Rider               Team/Bike             Time        Gap
 1.  Casey Stoner        Honda                 1m30.374s   
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo       Yamaha                1m31.279s   + 0.905s
 3.  Dani Pedrosa        Honda                 1m31.533s   + 1.159s
 4.  Andrea Dovizioso    Tech 3 Yamaha         1m31.968s   + 1.594s
 5.  Alvaro Bautista     Gresini Honda         1m32.039s   + 1.665s
 6.  Cal Crutchlow       Tech 3 Yamaha         1m32.199s   + 1.825s
 7.  Nicky Hayden        Ducati                1m32.312s   + 1.938s
 8.  Stefan Bradl        LCR Honda             1m32.356s   + 1.982s
 9.  Valentino Rossi     Ducati                1m32.655s   + 2.281s
10.  Randy de Puniet     Aspar Aprilia         1m33.266s   + 2.892s
11.  Karel Abraham       Cardion Ducati        1m33.376s   + 3.002s
12.  Hector Barbera      Pramac Ducati         1m33.671s   + 3.297s
13.  Aleix Espargaro     Aspar Aprilia         1m33.727s   + 3.353s
14.  Roberto Rolfo       Speed Master Aprilia  1m35.170s   + 4.796s
15.  Michele Pirro       Gresini FTR-Honda     1m35.200s   + 4.826s
16.  Danilo Petrucci     Ioda Suter-BMW        1m35.411s   + 5.037s
17.  James Ellison       Paul Bird Aprilia     1m35.427s   + 5.053s
18.  Colin Edwards       Forward Suter-BMW     1m35.715s   + 5.341s
19.  Ivan Silva          Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m37.352s   + 6.978s
20.  Kris McLaren        Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m40.657s  + 10.283s