Edwards tops final free practice

The American moved to the top of the timesheets with just more than 20 minutes to go to edge out his teammate Valentino Rossi by just 0.215 seconds.

Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner kept up his position as the Yamaha duo's closest challenger to set the third quickest time, with his GP7 bike still comfortably fastest through the speed trap.

Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins continued to fight through the pain barrier to set the fourth quickest time, showing the injuries he picked up in his recent testing crash at the Losail circuit were not slowing him down at all.

Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa was fifth fastest, ahead of Honda Gresini's Marco Melandri and Loris Capirossi on the second Ducati Marlboro.

There was slightly better news for world champion Nicky Hayden, who appeared to be getting more confident with his bike to set the eighth best time, after complaining about its feel during the first day of practice.

The Ilmor duo of Jeremy McWilliams and Andrew Pitt ended the session at the bottom of the timesheets, although McWilliams was just three tenths slower than his nearest rival.

Pos  Rider             Bike      Time
 1.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    1:56.057
 2.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    1:56.272 + 0.215
 3.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    1:56.540 + 0.483
 4.  John Hopkins      Suzuki    1:56.569 + 0.512
 5.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda     1:56.686 + 0.629
 6.  Marco Melandri    Honda     1:56.690 + 0.633
 7.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati    1:56.844 + 0.787
 8.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     1:56.918 + 0.861
 9.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    1:56.940 + 0.883
10.  Carlos Checa      Honda     1:56.996 + 0.939
11.  Alex Barros       Ducati    1:57.027 + 0.970
12.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     1:57.158 + 1.101
13.  Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki  1:57.316 + 1.259
14.  Toni Elias        Honda     1:57.444 + 1.387
15.  Kenny Roberts Jr  KR        1:57.600 + 1.543
16.  Alex Hofmann      Ducati    1:57.716 + 1.659
17.  Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha    1:57.849 + 1.792
18.  Olivier Jacque    Kawasaki  1:58.393 + 2.336
19.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha    1:58.979 + 2.922
20.  J.McWilliams      Ilmor     1:59.266 + 3.209
21.  Andrew Pitt       Ilmor     2:00.045 + 3.988