Pedrosa fastest in morning practice

The result marked Pedrosa's return to the top of the timesheets for the first time since his winter of accidents and injuries. The Honda rider had only been 10th in yesterday's opening session.

Motegi winner Lorenzo came closest to denying Pedrosa the top spot, with Casey Stoner taking third for Ducati ahead of an impressive performance by Randy de Puniet on the LCR Honda. Andrea Dovizioso completed a strong morning for Honda by putting the second factory bike in fifth place.

Friday pace-setters Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) and Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) were only seventh and eighth this morning, behind Colin Edwards' Tech 3 Yamaha.

Pos  Rider             Bike             Time
 1.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda            1m39.422s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha           1m39.476s  + 0.054s
 3.  Casey Stoner      Ducati           1m39.542s  + 0.120s
 4.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda        1m39.759s  + 0.337s
 5.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda            1m39.962s  + 0.540s
 6.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha    1m40.134s  + 0.712s
 7.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha           1m40.244s  + 0.822s
 8.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki           1m40.304s  + 0.882s
 9.  Marco Melandri    Hayate Kawasaki  1m40.520s  + 1.098s
10.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati           1m40.593s  + 1.171s
11.  Alex de Angelis   Gresini Honda    1m40.601s  + 1.179s
12.  Toni Elias        Gresini Honda    1m40.762s  + 1.340s
13.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki           1m40.829s  + 1.407s
14.  Sete Gibernau     Hernando Ducati  1m40.878s  + 1.456s
15.  James Toseland    Tech 3 Yamaha    1m41.042s  + 1.620s
16.  Yuki Takahashi    Scot Honda       1m41.203s  + 1.781s
17.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati    1m41.339s  + 1.917s
18.  Niccolo Canepa    Pramac Ducati    1m42.167s  + 2.745s