Vermeulen tops wet second practice

During an hour that may yet prove to be entirely irrelevant to the rest of the weekend, given the more promising weather outlook for Saturday and Sunday, the Suzuki rider was never far from the top of the times.

And with five minutes of the session left to run, Vermeulen moved to the top again, was temporarily removed by Casey Stoner, then put the matter utterly beyond doubt with a 2:01.50 lap.

Stoner nearly made it an Australian 1-2, but Honda's Nicky Hayden was having none of that as a sequence of steadily improving laps put him second overall, some 0.5 seconds behind Vermeulen.

Valentino Rossi took the opportunity to get some more working knowledge of Bridgestone's wet tyres and fourth position was the best he could manage.

James Toseland was one of the stars of the session in fifth. For once, the Briton made the most of some previous track knowledge to occupy the top spot for half the session before he was usurped towards the end.

Jorge Lorenzo was one of several riders nearly highsided by a huge puddle on the main straight, but the still injured Spaniard managed sixth position.

Andrea Dovizioso was seventh ahead of Randy de Puniet and Colin Edwards. Dani Pedrosa completed the top ten.

Loris Capirossi ended the session 13th after a low-speed crash at the final corner.

Both Japanese riders Shinya Nakano and Tadayuki Okada also crashed. Nakano was lucky not to be injured in a huge fall at the same corner that Capirossi went down. He and his Honda skated across the gravel with a distinct lack of deceleration before thumping the rubber tyre conveyor.

Forty-one year-old Okada was just getting in to his stride - and had posted a top five time - before the front end of his development Honda folded under him, sending him skating down the road.

Pos  Rider              Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Chris Vermeulen    Rizla Suzuki MotoGP      2:01.500            19
 2.  Nicky Hayden       Repsol Honda Team        2:02.010  + 0.510   21
 3.  Casey Stoner       Ducati Marlboro Team     2:02.305  + 0.805   17
 4.  Valentino Rossi    Fiat Yamaha Team         2:02.327  + 0.827   16
 5.  James Toseland     Tech 3 Yamaha            2:02.412  + 0.912   18
 6.  Jorge Lorenzo      Fiat Yamaha Team         2:02.562  + 1.062   25
 7.  Andrea Dovizioso   JiR Team Scot MotoGP     2:02.569  + 1.069   20
 8.  Randy De Puniet    LCR Honda MotoGP         2:03.568  + 2.068   18
 9.  Colin Edwards      Tech 3 Yamaha            2:03.586  + 2.086   17
10.  Dani Pedrosa       Repsol Honda Team        2:03.699  + 2.199   21
11.  Alex De Angelis    San Carlo Honda Gresini  2:03.765  + 2.265   19
12.  John Hopkins       Kawasaki Racing Team     2:03.950  + 2.450   19
13.  Loris Capirossi    Rizla Suzuki MotoGP      2:04.049  + 2.549   19
14.  Anthony West       Kawasaki Racing Team     2:05.397  + 3.897   22
15.  Shinya Nakano      San Carlo Honda Gresini  2:05.634  + 4.134   17
16.  Tadayuki Okada     Repsol Honda Team        2:06.103  + 4.603   11
17.  Sylvain Guintoli   Alice Team               2:06.257  + 4.757   19
18.  Toni Elias         Alice Team               2:08.980  + 7.480   17
19.  Marco Melandri     Ducati Marlboro Team     2:14.112  + 12.612  11