Stoner still fastest in practice 3
World championship leader Casey Stoner continued with his perfect weekend in Portugal by setting the fastest time in all three free MotoGP practice sessions so far in Portugal
The Marlboro Ducati rider set a best time of 1:37.173, almost eight tenths faster than yesterday's best time, and 0.261 seconds faster than Fiat Yamaha rival Valentino Rossi in second.
The Dunlop tyres keep figuring well in practice by setting the third fastest time thanks to Sylvain Guintoli of the Yamaha Tech 3 team. The Frenchman stopped the clock half a second behind Stoner.
Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden was fourth, ahead of John Hopkins's Rizla Suzuki in fifth and Hayden's teammate Dani Pedrosa in sixth.
Makoto Tamada in seventh with the other Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 was the last rider within one second of the leading Ducati.
Honda LCR's Carlos Checa was eighth, Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet was ninth, and Konica Minolta Honda's Shinya Nakano was tenth.
Notable riders who did not make the top ten are Honda Gresini's Marco Melandri in 11th, Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen in 12th, Fiat Yamaha's Colin Edwards in 13th, and Marlboro Ducati's Loris Capirossi in 17th.
Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) 1:37.173 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (M) 1:37.434 + 0.261 3. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha (D) 1:37.681 + 0.508 4. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) 1:37.785 + 0.612 5. John Hopkins Suzuki (B) 1:38.013 + 0.840 6. Daniel Pedrosa Honda (M) 1:38.068 + 0.895 7. Makoto Tamada Yamaha (D) 1:38.091 + 0.918 8. Carlos Checa Honda (M) 1:38.185 + 1.012 9. Randy de Puniet Kawasaki (B) 1:38.217 + 1.044 10. Shinya Nakano Honda (M) 1:38.260 + 1.087 11. Marco Melandri Honda (B) 1:38.260 + 1.087 12. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) 1:38.355 + 1.182 13. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) 1:38.400 + 1.227 14. Alex Barros Ducati (B) 1:38.537 + 1.364 15. Toni Elias Honda (B) 1:38.599 + 1.426 16. Alex Hofmann Ducati (B) 1:38.724 + 1.551 17. Loris Capirossi Ducati (B) 1:38.725 + 1.552 18. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) 1:38.941 + 1.768 19. Kurtis Roberts KR (M) 1:40.177 + 3.004
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