Spain’s Dani Pedrosa clocked the fastest free practice time on Friday, edging MotoGP championship leader Casey Stoner into second place ahead of the Grand Prix of Japan.
Pedrosa timed 1min 46.790sec, 0.054sec ahead of Australia’s Stoner, with Andrea Dovizioso third quickest.
“It seems good. All the (Honda) bikes are in the top three,” said Pedrosa, ranked fourth in the championship. “I have always been fast here.”
Honda tests its bikes at Motegi and a confident Stoner was ready to defend defend his Japan race title, won last year on a Ducati.
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With a 44-point lead over reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo of Yamaha, victory for Stoner could give him the chance to seal the championship at his home Grand Prix in Australia on October 16.
“The bike feels pretty good. Everything is working quite well for us,” Stoner said. Sydney Morning Herald
Gresini Honda’s Marco Simoncelli ended the session in fourth, his best effort coming in the very early stages of the session.
Jorge Lorenzo was the top Yamaha rider in fifth, the reigning champion finishing 0.520s down.
Lorenzo’s team-mate Ben Spies struggled with illness, leaving his bike to visit the medical centre with 15 minutes to go and finishing down in 14th.
Sixth was claimed by Nicky Hayden, who was again the top Ducati, more than half a second clear of Valentino Rossi in eighth. Yahoo! Eurosport UK
Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) ended the day ninth just 0.02s ahead of Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) in tenth.
Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies was the sole rider who did not improve in the outing, the American retired from the session after completing just 5 laps after exhaustion took over him due to fighting an illness the past two days.
He checked himself into the medical center and will try to rest enough to participate in tomorrow’s events. motogp
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