West surprises in final free practice

Kawasaki rider Anthony West sprung a surprise by setting the fastest time in final free practice for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang circuit near Kuala Lumpur

For virtually the whole session, another Australian topped the times in the form of 2007 world champion Casey Stoner, the Ducati rider ultimately setting his best effort of 2:02.120 with 20 minutes of the one-hour session remaining.

But in the dying seconds of the session he was eclipsed by West with a time of 2:02.116, four-thousandths of a second faster than the Ducati.

The top of the order finished closely bunched, with Fiat Yamaha teammates Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Ross, and Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa all less than two-tenths behind West, with Andrea Dovizioso and Shinya Nakano, continuing a strong weekend, just another tenth further back.

Even the gap from seventh to thirteenth was covered by just a quarter of a second, Suzuki's Loris Capirossi leading the way from Nicky Hayden, yesterday's fastest rider Colin Edwards, Randy de Puniet, West's teammate John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen on the second Suzuki, just over three-quarters of a second slower than the fastest time in a tightly-packed session.

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  2:02.116
 2.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  2:02.120  + 0.004
 3.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  2:02.231  + 0.115
 4.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  2:02.268  + 0.152
 5.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (B)  2:02.309  + 0.193
 6.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  2:02.418  + 0.302
 7.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  2:02.441  + 0.325
 8.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  2:02.638  + 0.522
 9.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  2:02.673  + 0.557
10.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  2:02.741  + 0.625
11.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  2:02.776  + 0.660
12.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  2:02.813  + 0.697
13.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  2:02.889  + 0.773
14.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  2:03.221  + 1.105
15.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)  2:03.263  + 1.147
16.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  2:03.332  + 1.216
17.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  2:03.571  + 1.455
18.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  2:03.724  + 1.608
19.  Nobuatsu Aoki     Suzuki    (B)  2:05.026  + 2.910