Pedrosa tops final practice

Pedrosa set the third-fastest time with five minutes remaining in the session, before lowering that mark by half a second on his next lap to set a time of 1:47.155, a time even he himself could not quite match in the final minutes of the session.

It looked like being a Repsol Honda 1-2 for a few minutes, Nicky Hayden topping the times with five minutes remaining before his teammate, and then Yamaha's Valentino Rossi pipped him in the dying minutes of the session.

Rossi's effort as the session ended concluded a much-improved session for the Italian, having strung a series of fast laps together in the second half of this morning's practice. Michelin riders filled the top three places, after yesterday's afternoon session saw Bridgestone fill all of the top eight positions except fastest.

Championship leader Casey Stoner was fourth fastest, unable to beat his early effort which topped the times for over three-quarters of the session until Hayden beat it with five minutes remaining. Less than a tenth behind Stoner was Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet, continuing to show the strong pace he showed in yesterday's second session.

After strong performances yesterday, the Suzukis of John Hopkins and Kousuke Akiyoshi were a little disappointing, sixth and ninth fastest, about a second off the pace. Their teammate Chris Vermeulen continued to struggle, 14th fastest and over 1.4 seconds slower than Pedrosa.

However, he was still faster than Loris Capirossi, who ended up 17th fastest despite an improved showing in yesterday's afternoon session.

Pos  Rider             Make           Time
 1.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (M)  1:47.155
 2.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (M)  1:47.438  + 0.283
 3.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  1:47.597  + 0.442
 4.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  1:47.611  + 0.456
 5.  Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki  (B)  1:47.690  + 0.535
 6.  John Hopkins      Suzuki    (B)  1:48.024  + 0.869
 7.  Marco Melandri    Honda     (B)  1:48.058  + 0.903
 8.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha    (D)  1:48.144  + 0.989
 9.  Kousuke Akiyoshi  Suzuki    (B)  1:48.189  + 1.034
10.  Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha    (D)  1:48.228  + 1.073
11.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  1:48.232  + 1.077
12.  Carlos Checa      Honda     (M)  1:48.361  + 1.206
13.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (M)  1:48.562  + 1.407
14.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  1:48.599  + 1.444
15.  Alex Barros       Ducati    (B)  1:48.599  + 1.444
16.  Toni Elias        Honda     (B)  1:48.614  + 1.459
17.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati    (B)  1:48.670  + 1.515
18.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  1:48.709  + 1.554
19.  Akira Yanagawa    Kawasaki  (B)  1:49.435  + 2.280
20.  Kurtis Roberts    Kr        (M)  1:50.044  + 2.889
21.  Shinichi Ito      Ducati    (B)  1:50.270  + 3.115