Rossi also leads final Misano practice

Italy's Rossi, who lives just seven kilometres away from the track and was also ahead yesterday, beat competition from Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo thanks to a final lap of 1m34.528s, after the Spaniard had briefly taken the lead when the time had already expired in the 60-minute session.

Lorenzo was the only other rider to break the 1m35s barrier, but his time in the end was two tenths slower than Rossi's.

Dani Pedrosa was third quickest, just one thousand of a second above the 1m35s mark, but that best time of his was set in the first half of the session, after which the Honda rider did not improve anymore.

Two more Hondas followed in the time sheets, with factory rider Andrea Dovizioso beaten to the fourth quickest time by Randy de Puniet on the LCR satellite entry.

Nicky Hayden was sixth with the Ducati, with Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards seventh and the Gresini Hondas of Alex de Angelis and Toni Elias in eighth and ninth place.

Pramac Ducati stand-in rider Aleix Espargaro ended the session in an extraordinary tenth place, in only his second ever MotoGP weekend, with Suzuki works riders Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen trailing behind.

Pos  Rider             Team             Time               Laps
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha           1m34.528s           30
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha           1m34.732s + 0.204s  32
 3.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda            1m35.001s + 0.473s  27
 4.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda        1m35.289s + 0.761s  28
 5.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda            1m35.340s + 0.812s  29
 6.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati           1m35.382s + 0.854s  28
 7.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha    1m35.479s + 0.951s  28
 8.  Alex de Angelis   Gresini Honda    1m35.584s + 1.056s  28
 9.  Toni Elias        Gresini Honda    1m35.966s + 1.438s  25
10.  Aleix Espargaro   Pramac Ducati    1m35.999s + 1.471s  25
11.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki           1m36.002s + 1.474s  26
12.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki           1m36.187s + 1.659s  31
13.  Mika Kallio       Ducati           1m36.247s + 1.719s  28
14.  Niccolo Canepa    Pramac Ducati    1m36.491s + 1.963s  30
15.  James Toseland    Tech 3 Yamaha    1m36.513s + 1.985s  26
16.  Marco Melandri    Hayate Kawasaki  1m36.518s + 1.990s  26
17.  Gabor Talmacsi    Scot Honda       1m37.794s + 3.266s  27