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Rossi tops practice as Pedrosa is hurt

Valentino Rossi went quickest in the opening free practice session at Motegi, while Honda's Dani Pedrosa was injured in a crash early on

Pedrosa fractured his left collarbone in three places when he fell on the approach to Turn 9. He is likely to be sidelined at least for this weekend, all but confirming Jorge Lorenzo as champion.

Andrea Dovizioso looked set to top the session in the absence of his Honda team-mate, but Rossi responded with a quicker lap after time had expired at the end of the session.

Dovizioso remained second, quarter of a second back, with world champion elect Lorenzo third quickest.

Aragon winner Casey Stoner was fourth for Ducati, while the Tech 3 Yamahas showed well with Ben Spies fifth and Colin Edwards seventh - sandwiching Hiroshi Aoyama's Interwetten Honda.

Hector Barbera, Loris Capirossi and Marco Simoncelli completed the top 10.

Pedrosa was far from the only rider to hit trouble during the hour, but the others escaped any injury.

Spies dropped his Yamaha running wide on the entry to Turn 3 and Nicky Hayden later fell from his Ducati at the Turn 10 hairpin, but both walked away unscathed.

Randy de Puniet, Marco Melandri and Aleix Espargaro all survived trips into the gravel without coming off.


Pos Rider               Team                 Time       Gap     Laps
 1. Valentino Rossi     Yamaha               1m48.174s            27
 2. Andrea Dovizioso    Honda                1m48.387s  +0.213    26
 3. Jorge Lorenzo       Yamaha               1m48.474s  +0.300    27
 4. Casey Stoner        Ducati               1m48.481s  +0.307    19
 5. Ben Spies           Tech 3 Yamaha        1m49.302s  +1.128    27
 6. Hiroshi Aoyama      Interwetten Honda    1m49.357s  +1.183    27
 7. Colin Edwards       Tech 3 Yamaha        1m49.377s  +1.203    24
 8. Hector Barbera      Aspar Ducati         1m49.544s  +1.370    21
 9. Loris Capirossi     Suzuki               1m49.568s  +1.394    23
10. Marco Simoncelli    Gresini Honda        1m49.581s  +1.407    24
11. Marco Melandri      Gresini Honda        1m49.620s  +1.446    20
12. Alvaro Bautista     Suzuki               1m49.644s  +1.470    24
13. Nicky Hayden        Ducati               1m49.882s  +1.708    18
14. Randy de Puniet     LCR Honda            1m49.957s  +1.783    24
15. Aleix Espargaro     Pramac Ducati        1m50.158s  +1.984    21
16. Mika Kallio         Pramac Ducati        1m51.105s  +2.931    24
17. Dani Pedrosa        Honda                2m00.131s +11.957     2

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