In Tech 3 Yamaha´s first test for the 2008 season, Colin Edwards scrapped his settings and started afresh at the Sepang circuit. Coming to the close of the year, another big change -a reversion to a previous setup- enabled the `Texas Tornado´ to record the fastest time in practice for the Polini Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
The afternoon session looked like it might fail to produce any improvements when thunder signalled the arrival of light rain early on, but the moisture cleared soon after the halfway mark.
Aided by the uncertain weather, Honda Gresini’s Shinya Nakano was fastest for much of the afternoon, but lost the top spot to Rossi and then Casey Stoner with one minute remaining before Edwards sliced 0.303s under the Australian on his last lap.
Rossi trimmed that margin down to 0.171s on his final circulation, although the Fiat Yamaha star could not improve upon his morning time - just 0.026s slower than Colin’s mark.
Stoner, who can secure second in the World Championship this weekend, was third in both sessions, while Nakano concluded the day fourth fastest - boosting his hopes of securing the third Kawasaki seat.
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