Stoner tops opening practice

Ducati rider Stoner topped the times just after the 20 minute mark, and lowered the mark four more times on his next four laps to a best of 1:31.132, over a second faster than his nearest rival as rain hit the circuit shortly after Stoner set his ultimate mark.

Riders took to the circuit again in the closing minutes but couldn't get close to their earlier bests, which themselves may not have been entirely representative for every rider.

Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet was second fastest in the session with a 1:32.471, 1.339 seconds slower than Stoner with Valentino Rossi on his Yamaha third fastest, 2.3 seconds slower than Stoner.

John Hopkins led a group of five riders split by three-tenths of a second, the group also including Dani Pedrosa, Motegi winner Loris Capirossi, local rider Anthony West and Carlos Checa, the group about three seconds slower than Stoner. After a poor weekend in Japan, tenth fastest for Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen looks promising.

Behind Vermeulen at the end of the session were two of the early pace-setters on a damp but drying track early in the session, Sylvain Guintoli and Marco Melandri. Both riders topped the times during the first 20 minutes of the session but ended the session in 12th and 14th respectively.

Chas Davies, who will ride the final three rounds for Pramac D'Antin Ducati, got off to a good start by setting 15th fastest time and outpacing his teammate Alex Barros by two places and two seconds.

Kurtis Roberts fell during the session but is fine, setting the slowest time.

Pos  Rider             Make           Time
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  1:31.132
 2.  Randy de Puniet   Kawasaki  (B)  1:32.471  + 1.339
 3.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (M)  1:33.420  + 2.288
 4.  John Hopkins      Suzuki    (B)  1:33.862  + 2.730
 5.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (M)  1:33.890  + 2.758
 6.  Loris Capirossi   Ducati    (B)  1:33.975  + 2.843
 7.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  1:34.033  + 2.901
 8.  Carlos Checa      Honda     (M)  1:34.167  + 3.035
 9.  Toni Elias        Honda     (B)  1:34.397  + 3.265
10.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  1:34.728  + 3.596
11.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  1:35.244  + 4.112
12.  Sylvain Guintoli  Yamaha    (D)  1:35.598  + 4.466
13.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  1:35.791  + 4.659
14.  Marco Melandri    Honda     (B)  1:35.981  + 4.849
15.  Chaz Davies       Ducati    (B)  1:36.118  + 4.986
16.  Makoto Tamada     Yamaha    (D)  1:37.764  + 6.632
17.  Alex Barros       Ducati    (B)  1:38.145  + 7.013
18.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (M)  1:40.908  + 9.776
19.  Kurtis Roberts    KR212V    (M)  1:47.458  +16.326