Stoner heads first practice in China

Ducati's Stoner won a closing-minutes duel with Suzuki rider John Hopkins, the pair having topped the times for most of the second half of the session, the two riders almost inseparable at the top of the timesheet.

With less than a minute remaining, Stoner beat Hopkins' previous best by 65 thousandths of a second, the duo setting out on fast laps after the chequered had fallen. Though both riders got within 0.05 of a second of their own best efforts, neither rider was able to improve.

As usual, the weekend's running got off to a quiet start, Hopkins setting the benchmark early in the session with a 2:01.955, a time only he and Stoner would manage to beat.

At the halfway mark Valentino Rossi got close to Hopkins but wasn't able to beat him, before Stoner took eight thousandths off Hopkins' best time to go to the top with 23 minutes remaining.

This began a duel between them, Stoner improving to a 2:01.644 five minutes later, Hopkins beating that time less than a minute later by 41 thousandths before Stoner returned to the top on his next lap with a 2:01.538, the battle being resolved for good at the very end of the session.

After setting a strong time halfway through the session, Rossi was unable to improve.

However, it was still just good enough for third fastest at the end, with 33 thousandths of a second covering Rossi, reigning world champion Nicky Hayden, Hopkins' teammate Chris Vermeulen and Stoner's teammate Loris Capirossi.

Dani Pedrosa seemed untroubled by injury as he set the eighth fastest time, less than two tenths slower than teammate Hayden.

However, both Pramac Ducatis struggled in opening practice, Alex Hofmann fourteenth fastest with fourth-place finisher at the last Grand Prix, Alex Barros, down in sixteenth, nearly two seconds off the pace.

Pos  Rider              Bike      Time
 1.  Casey Stoner       Ducati    2:01.538
 2.  John Hopkins       Suzuki    2:01.603  + 0.065
 3.  Valentino Rossi    Yamaha    2:02.050  + 0.512
 4.  Nicky Hayden       Honda     2:02.052  + 0.514
 5.  Chris Vermeulen    Suzuki    2:02.082  + 0.544
 6.  Loris Capirossi    Ducati    2:02.083  + 0.545
 7.  Colin Edwards      Yamaha    2:02.148  + 0.610
 8.  Dani Pedrosa       Honda     2:02.225  + 0.687
 9.  Randy De Puniet    Kawasaki  2:02.262  + 0.724
10.  Marco Melandri     Honda     2:02.268  + 0.730
11.  Toni Elias         Honda     2:02.378  + 0.840
12.  Kenny Roberts Jr   KR        2:02.595  + 1.057
13.  Carlos Checa       Honda     2:02.826  + 1.288
14.  Alex Hofmann       Ducati    2:02.873  + 1.335
15.  Olivier Jacque     Kawasaki  2:03.290  + 1.752
16.  Alex Barros        Ducati    2:03.400  + 1.862
17.  Sylvain Guintoli   Yamaha    2:03.530  + 1.992
18.  Makoto Tamada      Yamaha    2:04.469  + 2.931
19.  Shinya Nakano      Honda     2:04.754  + 3.216