The home country Hondas were well represented on the first day of practice for the Italian Grand Prix, with San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Marco Simoncelli the fastest rider and Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso third fastest.
In between the Italians came Repsol Honda’s World Championship leader Casey Stoner.
But the rider whom everyone was watching had a miserable day, with Ducati Marlboro’s Valentino Rossi only able to muster the 13th fastest time.
Simoncelli arrived in Mugello hoping for some home country love while trying to end a streak of race futility.
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MotoGP: Marco Simoncelli Fastest in First Practice at Mugello
The tall, bushy-haired Italian has been blazingly fast in practice and qualifying, but consistently inept in the races.
Last weekend he crashed on a cold tire on the opening lap of the Dutch TT in the first left hand corner, taking down Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo.
Simoncelli was apologetic, but it didn’t silence his critics, who see a pattern that hasn’t changed all season. Cycle News
The fastest Yamaha in the session was Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorege Lorenzo, who set a fourth quickest time of 1’49.251, just slightly more than a tenth of a second ahead of team mate Ben Spies.
Colin Edwards posted the sixth fastest of the session on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bike, followed by Dani Pedrosa, who returns to racing after a 3 round absence due to a fractured a collarbone sustained at Le Mans. The Repsol Honda rider won the race here last year, leading every lap from pole position.
The swiftest Ducati of the field was that of Nicky Hayden, who posted a time of 1’50.203. motogp.com
Pos. Num. Rider Team Time 1 58 Marco SIMONCELLISan Carlo Honda Gresini 1'48.987 2 27 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1'49.027 3 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSORepsol Honda Team 1'49.088 4 1 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1'49.251 5 11 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1'49.364 6 5 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'49.810 7 26 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1'50.104 8 69 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1'50.203 9 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'50.629 10 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'50.658 11 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'50.683 12 14 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1'50.729 13 46 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1'50.780 14 8 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1'51.153 15 24 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1'51.868 16 17 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1'51.876
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