De Puniet fastest in first Assen practice

The LCR Honda sneaked ahead of the world champion by just 0.005 seconds when he produced a 1m37.842s with his penultimate lap of the afternoon.

Until then Yamaha had looked set to resume the form it showed at Barcelona by taking a one-two in practice, for Rossi and his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo had usurped long-time pace-setter Dani Pedrosa in the final quarter of an hour. Lorenzo was the first to beat the Honda, but he only stayed on top for a few moments before Rossi took charge.

Then with only a minute remaining de Puniet found the few tenths he required to move up from fifth to first.

Rossi remained second despite Casey Stoner (Ducati) beating his time around the first half of the lap. The Australian dropped speed in the remaining sectors and had to settle for third, with just 0.035s covering the top three.

Lorenzo ended up fourth, ahead of the factory Hondas, as Pedrosa slipped back to sixth behind team-mate Andrea Dovizioso.

Colin Edwards ran as high as second for Tech 3 Yamaha at first and completed the afternoon in seventh, with his team-mate James Toseland ninth between the two Suzukis.

The only accident of the session was Yuki Takahashi's violent high-side at the halfway point. The Scot Honda rider, who already has a fractured finger from his first lap crash at Catalunya, limped away from the scene with assistance from the marshals.

Pos  Rider             Bike             Time       Gap
 1.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda        1m37.842s
 2.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha           1m37.847s  + 0.005s
 3.  Casey Stoner      Ducati           1m37.877s  + 0.035s
 4.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha           1m38.061s  + 0.219s
 5.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda            1m38.092s  + 0.250s
 6.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda            1m38.194s  + 0.352s
 7.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha    1m38.205s  + 0.363s
 8.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki           1m38.350s  + 0.508s
 9.  James Toseland    Tech 3 Yamaha    1m38.379s  + 0.537s
10.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki           1m38.429s  + 0.587s
11.  Alex de Angelis   Gresini Honda    1m38.495s  + 0.653s
12.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati           1m38.928s  + 1.086s
13.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati    1m39.464s  + 1.622s
14.  Marco Melandri    Hayate Kawasaki  1m39.597s  + 1.755s
15.  Toni Elias        Gresini Honda    1m39.642s  + 1.800s
16.  Sete Gibernau     Hernando Ducati  1m40.151s  + 2.309s
17.  Yuki Takahashi    Scot Honda       1m40.185s  + 2.343s
18.  Niccolo Canepa    Pramac Ducati    1m41.020s  + 3.178s
19.  Gabor Talmacsi    Scot Honda       1m41.380s  + 3.538s