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