Reigning world champion Valentino Rossi made a brilliant start to his quest for a tenth home victory in Mugello today after he led a Yamaha domination of opening MotoGP practice.
Rossi, who is sporting a new Mohican haircut for his home race, produced a brilliant burst of speed in the final ten minutes to finish well clear of current world championship leader and Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.
Rossi didn’t take long to find his form at his beloved Mugello and in the early stages he was able to hold an advantage of over 0.7s under bright and sunny skies this afternoon.
Rossi eventually topped the timesheets with a best of 1.49.751 on his 23rd lap that Lorenzo couldn’t overhaul despite his own impressive late surge. Motorcycle News
Loris Capirossi ended up third on the Rizla Suzuki, the Italian ending up .23 of a second behind Lorenzo and almost half a second ahead of Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Colin Edwards, the Texan hoping to improve up on his Mugello best of fifth in the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.
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MotoGP Standing Ahead of Italian Grand Prix
MotoGP: Valentino Rossi Fastest in First Practice at Mugello
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) the highest-placing Honda at just a thousandth of a second behind Edwards.
Ben Spies impressed on his first MotoGP outing on the track by registering the sixth best time, just over two-tenths off Pedrosa. Auto Racing Daily
Pos. Num. Rider Team Time 1 46 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 1'49.751 2 99 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 1'50.120 3 65 Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'50.359 4 5 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'50.772 5 26 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1'50.773 6 11 Ben SPIES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'51.004 7 27 Casey STONER Ducati Marlboro Team 1'51.128 8 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSORepsol Honda Team 1'51.255 9 69 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Marlboro Team 1'51.387 10 40 Hector BARBERA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 1'51.582 11 14 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP 1'51.605 12 58 Marco SIMONCELLISan Carlo Honda Gresini 1'51.717 13 33 Marco MELANDRI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'51.782 14 41 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac Racing Team 1'52.202 15 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA Interwetten Honda MotoGP 1'52.399 16 36 Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing Team 1'52.418 17 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'55.257
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