Stoner fastest again in practice two

The championship leader beat long-time pacesetter Randy de Puniet by 0.212 seconds with eight minutes remaining.

Kawasaki rider de Puniet had moved to the front of the field with a 1:38.129 lap a third of the way through the session, and then improved to 1:38.040 15 minutes later.

The Frenchman then remained unbeaten until Stoner produced a 1:37.828 to complete a clean sweep of the day's practice sessions.

Nicky Hayden continued to demonstrate his recent resurgence with the third fastest time, just under three tenths of a second slower than Stoner.

Valentino Rossi improved to fourth with his last lap, ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Makoto Tamada - who took a shock sixth for the struggling Dunlop Tech 3 Yamaha squad.

Although several riders paid brief visits to the gravel and the asphalt run-off areas, especially at the final chicane, all stayed upright except Kawasaki's new recruit Anthony West, who crashed after 35 minutes. He was unhurt and able to rejoin on his spare bike.

Pos  Rider             Bike      Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    1:37.828
 2.  Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki  1:38.040  + 0.212
 3.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     1:38.114  + 0.286
 4.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    1:38.148  + 0.320
 5.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     1:38.221  + 0.393
 6.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha    1:38.256  + 0.428
 7.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    1:38.341  + 0.513
 8.  John Hopkins      Suzuki    1:38.436  + 0.608
 9.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     1:38.444  + 0.616
10.  Alex Barros       Ducati    1:38.485  + 0.657
11.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati    1:38.600  + 0.772
12.  Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha    1:38.650  + 0.822
13.  Carlos Checa      Honda     1:38.733  + 0.905
14.  Alex Hofmann      Ducati    1:38.846  + 1.018
15.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    1:39.152  + 1.324
16.  Marco Melandri    Honda     1:39.259  + 1.431
17.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  1:39.751  + 1.923
18.  Kurtis Roberts    KR        1:40.835  + 3.007