Stoner flies, crashes in second practice

But while the world champion left a demoralising trail of ever-decreasing fastest lap times for his rivals to absorb, he is lucky to be heading into tomorrow's qualifying session unscathed after a high speed tumble at Turn 10, late in the session.

The Australian, having already lowered his best time to 1:21.582, was pushing to go even faster when the front-end of his bike dropped away at around 120mph.

But thanks to the asphalt run-off, Stoner was able to walk away with nothing more than torn leathers and friction burns to his elbows.

The only man who came within half a second of the flying Ducati was Alex de Angelis, whose Bridgestone-shod Gresini Honda has been quick all day.

Colin Edwards was third quickest for Tech 3 Yamaha. The Texan set the time early in the session, and was another to fall, but his accident was at low speed out of the final turn.

Three-time Sachsenring winner Valentino Rossi was fourth quickest, after a quiet session, just ahead of his teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who is beginning to look a bit more like his old self again.

Shinya Nakano enforced the pace of the Gresini Hondas in Germany with sixth position, ahead of the factory bikes of Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden. The American, on the pneumatic-valve bike, was just one thousandth slower than the Spaniard, who had a fall early on and was forced to switch to his spare bike.

Andrea Dovizioso was yet another faller en route to ninth, while Randy de Puniet completed the top ten.

Loris Capirossi was the fastest Suzuki in 12th. Meanwhile. British rider James Toseland was last, having lost time this morning after a monumental fall destroyed his bike.

Pos  Rider              Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Casey Stoner       Ducati Marlboro Team       1:21.582           21
 2.  Alex De Angelis    San Carlo Honda Gresini    1:21.993 + 0.411   28
 3.  Colin Edwards      Tech 3 Yamaha              1:22.463 + 0.881   22
 4.  Valentino Rossi    Fiat Yamaha Team           1:22.796 + 1.214   31
 5.  Jorge Lorenzo      Fiat Yamaha Team           1:22.894 + 1.312   31
 6.  Shinya Nakano      San Carlo Honda Gresini    1:22.922 + 1.340   31
 7.  Dani Pedrosa       Repsol Honda Team          1:22.974 + 1.392   26
 8.  Nicky Hayden       Repsol Honda Team          1:22.975 + 1.393   29
 9.  Andrea Dovizioso   JiR Team Scot MotoGP       1:23.093 + 1.511   21
10.  Randy De Puniet    LCR Honda MotoGP           1:23.116 + 1.534   30
11.  Sylvain Guintoli   Alice Team                 1:23.209 + 1.627   26
12.  Loris Capirossi    Rizla Suzuki MotoGP        1:23.274 + 1.692   31
13.  Toni Elias         Alice Team                 1:23.366 + 1.784   29
14.  Chris Vermeulen    Rizla Suzuki MotoGP        1:23.411 + 1.829   29
15.  Anthony West       Kawasaki Racing Team       1:23.452 + 1.870   29
16.  Marco Melandri     Ducati Marlboro Team       1:23.698 + 2.116   30
17.  James Toseland     Tech 3 Yamaha              1:23.864 + 2.282   30