Edwards quickest in first free practice
Colin Edwards led the way during the first free practice session for this weekend's MotoGP season opener at Qatar
The Fiat Yamaha rider was just eight hundredths of a second ahead of Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner, whose performance boosted hopes of a strong showing from Bridgestone at the Losail circuit.
Valentino Rossi proved that Yamaha's M1 bike is well sorted for the start of the season with the third best time, just four hundredths of a second behind Stoner, with Carlos Checa a surprise fourth fastest for Honda LCR.
Loris Capirossi was fifth fastest on the other Ducati Marlboro, while the returning John Hopkins proved that his recent crash at the circuit had not dented his speed with the sixth quickest time.
Pos Rider Team Time Laps 1. Colin Edwards Fiat Yamaha Team 1:56.665 21 2. Casey Stoner Ducati Marlboro Team 1:56.745 + 0.080 19 3. Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1:56.787 + 0.122 22 4. Carlos Checa Honda LCR 1:57.095 + 0.430 23 5. Loris Capirossi Ducati Marlboro Team 1:57.270 + 0.605 20 6. John Hopkins Rizla Suzuki Motogp 1:57.281 + 0.616 20 7. Marco Melandri Honda Gresini 1:57.443 + 0.778 21 8. Shinya Nakano Konica Minolta Honda 1:57.491 + 0.826 23 9. Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1:57.705 + 1.040 24 10. Alex Hofmann Pramac D'antin 1:58.021 + 1.356 19 11. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki Racing Team 1:58.238 + 1.573 22 12. Toni Elias Honda Gresini 1:58.262 + 1.597 19 13. Alex Barros Pramac D'antin 1:58.315 + 1.650 22 14. Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki Motogp 1:58.559 + 1.894 22 15. Kenny Roberts Jr Team Roberts 1:58.774 + 2.109 21 16. Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda Team 1:58.924 + 2.259 23 17. Olivier Jacque Kawasaki Racing Team 1:59.598 + 2.933 18 18. Sylvain Guintoli Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 1:59.679 + 3.014 18 19. Andrew Pitt Ilmor GP 2:00.587 + 3.922 19 20. Makoto Tamada Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 2:01.495 + 4.830 19 21. Jeremy Mcwilliams Ilmor GP 2:01.767 + 5.102 13
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