Stoner quickest in Estoril practice
MotoGP champion Casey Stoner showed he had put the nightmares of the Spanish Grand Prix firmly behind him as he set the fastest time in opening practice in Portugal on Friday
With riding conditions difficult due to overnight rain, high winds and showers, the early minutes of the session were spent acclimatising to the circuit.
It took around 40 minutes for Stoner to show his hand and move to the top of the timesheets, but with the riders getting more accustomed to the conditions over the hour-long session it was inevitable he would be knocked off the position at some point.
Shinya Nakano went quickest with 11 minutes to go before Valentino Rossi then showed his hand six minutes later to go top.
However, Stoner still had more in reserve to set a best lap of 1:47.900 with two minutes to go. Rossi tried to respond but his best lap ended up as a 1:48.499.
The effort Rossi was putting in was obvious as he suffered a crash at the final corner, although he was unhurt.
Nakano showed his earlier form was not fluke as he set the third quickest time on the San Carlo Honda Gresini, ahead of wet-weather specialist Anthony West and his Kawasaki Racing teammate John Hopkins.
Former MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden was sixth quickest, while Repsol Honda teammate and championship leader Dani Pedrosa could manage no better than 16th.
That was still further up the timesheets than Tech 3 Yamaha duo Colin Edwards and James Toseland, whose 17th and 18th positions were not what they expected as they tried out their new pneumatic valve engines for the first time.
Pos Rider Team Time Laps 1. Casey Stoner Ducati Marlboro Team 1:47.900 13 2. Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1:48.599 + 0.699 17 3. Shinya Nakano San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:48.754 + 0.854 23 4. Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team 1:48.873 + 0.973 20 5. John Hopkins Kawasaki Racing Team 1:49.530 + 1.630 16 6. Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda Team 1:49.787 + 1.887 19 7. Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1:49.903 + 2.003 19 8. Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1:50.123 + 2.223 20 9. Sylvain Guintoli Alice Team 1:50.278 + 2.378 22 10. Randy De Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 1:50.422 + 2.522 17 11. Andrea Dovizioso JiR Team Scot MotoGP 1:50.447 + 2.547 21 12. Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1:50.588 + 2.688 20 13. Marco Melandri Ducati Marlboro Team 1:50.761 + 2.861 18 14. Alex De Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:51.195 + 3.295 5 15. Toni Elias Alice Team 1:51.392 + 3.492 20 16. Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1:52.045 + 4.145 14 17. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1:53.196 + 5.296 16 18. James Toseland Tech 3 Yamaha 1:53.907 + 6.007 21
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