Stoner in command in final practice
Casey Stoner dominated Saturday morning practice at Valencia
The Ducati rider was fastest from the first flying laps, immediately lapping in the high-1m32s bracket that it took his rivals most of the 45 minutes to reach.
Stoner eventually did a 1m32.664s which stood as the morning's best, while late improvements from Dani Pedrosa got the Honda rider to within 0.281 seconds of the Ducati.
World champion Jorge Lorenzo was third for Yamaha, while his team-mate Valentino Rossi continued to struggle at a track where he rarely has a happy time. The Italian was only 10th.
Marco Simoncelli continued his fine recent form to take fourth for Gresini Honda, followed by Tech 3 Yamaha's Ben Spies, whose Estoril ankle dislocation is not hampering him at all so far this weekend.
Andrea Dovizioso completed the top six on the second works Honda.
The session saw little incident, with Hector Barbera's early trip through the gravel the only error of note. The Aspar Ducati rider still managed to take an impressive eighth place in the end.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m32.664s 2. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m32.945s + 0.281s 3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m33.117s + 0.453s 4. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m33.171s + 0.507s 5. Ben Spies Tech 3 Yamaha 1m33.226s + 0.562s 6. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m33.397s + 0.733s 7. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m33.408s + 0.744s 8. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m33.440s + 0.776s 9. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m33.454s + 0.790s 10. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m33.498s + 0.834s 11. Aleix Espargaro Pramac Ducati 1m33.615s + 0.951s 12. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m33.781s + 1.117s 13. Hiroshi Aoyama Interwetten Honda 1m33.986s + 1.322s 14. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m34.012s + 1.348s 15. Marco Melandri Gresini Honda 1m34.092s + 1.428s 16. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m34.158s + 1.494s 17. Carlos Checa Pramac Ducati 1m35.243s + 2.579s
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