Stoner tops final practice

Stoner was fast early in the session, as he swapped fastest time with Suzuki rider John Hopkins. With just under half the session remaining, Stoner took back fastest time from Hopkins, and then lowered it again on the next lap to a 2:02.291, which stood for the remainder of the session.

Second fastest in today's session was the rider fastest in Friday's second session, Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet, who just edged out Hopkins with a time a quarter of a second slower than Stoner's.

Both riders came under threat of falling down the order late in the session however, with 2006 MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden and de Puniet's Australian teammate Anthony West both setting times less than a tenth slower than de Puniet after the chequered flag had fallen to finish the session fourth and fifth.

Another rider to set a fast lap late in the session was Gresini Honda rider Toni Elias, who jumped up from nowhere to fourth with a minute remaining, dropping to sixth after Hayden and West's flyers.

Valentino Rossi looked set to move further up the order on his final lap but failed to improve and was seventh fastest, half a second slower than Stoner, with Marco Melandri, Dani Pedrosa and Sylvain Guintoli completing the top ten.

Just outside the top ten in 11th, 12th and 13th are a trio of factory riders - Chris Vermeulen, Colin Edwards and Loris Capirossi.

Pos  Rider             Make           Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  2:02.291
 2.  Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki  (B)  2:02.534 + 0.243
 3.  John Hopkins      Suzuki    (B)  2:02.557 + 0.266
 4.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  2:02.589 + 0.298
 5.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  2:02.627 + 0.336
 6.  Toni Elias        Honda     (B)  2:02.697 + 0.406
 7.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (M)  2:02.838 + 0.547
 8.  Marco Melandri    Honda     (B)  2:03.021 + 0.730
 9.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (M)  2:03.120 + 0.829
10.  Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha    (D)  2:03.217 + 0.926
11.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  2:03.234 + 0.943
12.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  2:03.420 + 1.129
13.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati    (B)  2:03.638 + 1.347
14.  Alex Barros       Ducati    (B)  2:03.850 + 1.559
15.  Carlos Checa      Honda     (M)  2:04.036 + 1.745
16.  Nobuatsu Aoki     Suzuki    (B)  2:04.322 + 2.031
17.  Chaz Davies       Ducati    (B)  2:04.483 + 2.192
18.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha    (D)  2:04.914 + 2.623
19.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (M)  2:05.210 + 2.919
20.  Kurtis Roberts    KR212V    (M)  2:05.691 + 3.400