Pedrosa tops final Sachsenring practice

Dani Pedrosa snatched top spot from Casey Stoner in the final practice session ahead of the German motorcycling Grand Prix

The Repsol Honda rider set a 1:22.343 laptime after the time had already expired in the one-hour session, edging ahead of the Ducati Marlboro rival by 34 thousandths of a second.

This morning's session at Sachsenring started on a wet track, but the laptimes eventually tumbled to within one second of yesterday's fastest times.

Stoner did not get on the track until well into the second half of the session, as did Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi, who however could do no better than ninth, 1.5 seconds behind Pedrosa.

Third fastest was the Spaniard's teammate Nicky Hayden, almost six tenths slower with his RC212V fitted with the new pneumatic-valve engine.

Alex de Angelis continued with the good form he's displayed in this event by setting the fourth fastest time with his Honda Gresini, ahead of the JiR Team Scot Honda of Andrea Dovizioso.

Another customer Honda in the top ten was the LCR-run bike of Randy de Puniet in seventh, squeezed between the Alice Ducatis of Sylvain Guintoli and Toni Elias.

Chris Vermeulen completed the top ten with his Rizla Suzuki, while the only Kawasaki, run by Anthony West, ended up 17th and last after running less laps than anyone else.

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Daniel Pedrosa    Honda     (M)  1:22.343
 2.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  1:22.377 + 0.034
 3.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  1:22.935 + 0.592
 4.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  1:23.065 + 0.722
 5.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  1:23.129 + 0.786
 6.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  1:23.556 + 1.213
 7.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  1:23.604 + 1.261
 8.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)  1:23.670 + 1.327
 9.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  1:23.863 + 1.520
10.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  1:23.880 + 1.537
11.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  1:23.933 + 1.590
12.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  1:24.120 + 1.777
13.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  1:24.455 + 2.112
14.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  1:24.591 + 2.248
15.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  1:24.841 + 2.498
16.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  1:25.124 + 2.781
17.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  1:29.301 + 6.958