Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner has unsurprisingly set the fastest time in this morning’s initial MotoGP free practice session at Motegi, lapping a quarter of a second faster than team-mate Andrea Dovizioso while Nicky Hayden stuck the factory Ducati in third and was only a little less than half a second off the pace.
Aussie Stoner went round in 1’47.289, which is already only two tenths off his own lap record set in 2008, with Dovizioso on a 1’47.566. Hayden, meanwhile is on a 1’47.732 while his team-mate Valentino Rossi is just less than a second further back in tenth on a 1’48.667.
Dani Pedrosa, on the third Repsol bike, is in fourth and just a tenth slower than Hayden while Jorge Lorenzo out his factory Yamaha in fifth. BSN
Click Here to Read More
MotoGP: Japanese Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) lost the front in turn 9 and went down with 15 minutes remaining, the Italian then ran back to his box and rejoined the session, ending the outing with the sixth fastest time.
Colin Edwards followed in seventh with a 1’48.169, with Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) taking eighth ahead of Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) and Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team).
Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) landed 11th in the field at his home track, while HRC test riders and wild cards for the MotoGP class, Kousuke Akiyoshi (LCR Honda) and Shinichi Ito (Honda Racing Team), finished the session in 17th and 18th. motogp
| 
|