Stoner tops practice then crashes
Casey Stoner was quickest in the first free practice session at Jerez, despite crashing near the end of the hour
The Ducati rider's fourth lap of the day - a 1m39.731s - stood as the fastest of the session, and put him 0.7 seconds clear of the pack until the closing stages.
Stoner then lost the front end of his Ducati at the Angel Nieto corner on one of his final runs, but was unhurt and retained his position at the head of the order, although Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo got to within a tenth of a second.
Nicky Hayden put the second Ducati third as he continued his 2010 resurgence, while Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) did not appear to be in too much discomfort from his shoulder injury as he took fifth behind top Honda runner Dani Pedrosa.
Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) and Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) were sixth and seventh, ahead of impressive rookie Hector Barbera - who went eighth fastest in his and the Aspar team's first MotoGP session on home ground. He had fallen early in the session, but swiftly recovered and spent much of the hour in the top six. Fellow Spanish newcomer Alvaro Bautista took ninth for Suzuki.
It was an encouraging session for Marco Melandri too. After a terrible start to the season in Qatar, the Gresini Honda rider was back in the top ten at Jerez.
Pos Rider Team Time Gap 1. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m39.731s 2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m39.875s + 0.144s 3. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m40.148s + 0.417s 4. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m40.200s + 0.469s 5. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m40.359s + 0.628s 6. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m40.716s + 0.985s 7. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m40.913s + 1.182s 8. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m41.034s + 1.303s 9. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m41.093s + 1.362s 10. Marco Melandri Gresini Honda 1m41.190s + 1.459s 11. Ben Spies Tech 3 Yamaha 1m41.200s + 1.469s 12. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m41.277s + 1.546s 13. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m41.293s + 1.562s 14. Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati 1m41.297s + 1.566s 15. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m41.533s + 1.802s 16. Aleix Espargaro Pramac Ducati 1m41.742s + 2.011s 17. Hiroshi Aoyama Interwetten Honda 1m41.837s + 2.106s
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