Stoner fastest again in practice 3

The Marlboro Ducati rider regained top spot from Fiat Yamaha rookie Jorge Lorenzo with seven minutes of the session remaining, edging him by a tenth with a best lap of 1:55.186.

Seven-time champion Valentino Rossi, on the Bridgestone-shod Yamaha, could only set the third fastest time, three tenths behind his young Spanish teammate on Michelin rubber.

Honda Gresini rookie Alex de Angelis managed the fourth-fastest time ahead of Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards and the JiR Scot Honda of Andrea Dovizioso.

The first works Repsol Honda was Dani Pedrosa's, who couldn't do better than seventh fastest, over seven tenths of a second behind Stoner.

Chris Vermeulen was eighth with his Rizla Suzuki, with the LCR Honda of Randy de Puniet and the Tech 3 Yamaha of James Toseland rounding up the top ten.

The best-placed Kawasaki was John Hopkins's in 11th, 1.2 seconds behind Stoner.

Loris Capirossi in the second Suzuki could do no better than 12th, while 2006 champion Nicky Hayden had to settle for 15th fastest.

Marco Melandri in the second works Ducati continued to struggle, managing to leave the bottom spot with less than ten minutes to go in the session. The Italian ultimately ended up with the 16th fastest time, almost two and a half seconds behind teammate Stoner.

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time             Laps
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  1:55.186           20
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  1:55.299 + 0.113   22
 3.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  1:55.598 + 0.412   23
 4.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  1:55.659 + 0.473   21
 5.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  1:55.746 + 0.560   22
 6.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  1:55.788 + 0.602   20
 7.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (M)  1:55.902 + 0.716   25
 8.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  1:56.108 + 0.922   24
 9.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  1:56.371 + 1.185   19
10.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  1:56.467 + 1.281   20
11.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  1:56.472 + 1.286   18
12.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  1:56.516 + 1.330   24
13.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  1:56.741 + 1.555   23
14.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)  1:56.789 + 1.603   21
15.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  1:56.971 + 1.785   24
16.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  1:57.658 + 2.472   19
17.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  1:57.777 + 2.591   20
18.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  1:57.800 + 2.614   22