Stoner fastest in slippery Valencia practice

 A last-minute effort by Champion Casey Stoner left the Australian quickest in Friday morning’s first practice session for the season-closing MotoGP of Valencia. The Honda rider led the way from team-mate and local favourite Dani Pedrosa, with the two Ducatis of Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden managing third and fourth places.

Prior to the session, all memories were with the deceased Marco Simoncelli, who tragically lost his life in the Sepang race on 23 October. As a pair of Gresini bikes were lined up in the pit lane, Loris Capirossi proudly displayed Simoncelli’s number 58 on his Pramac for what is the former’s final race weekend in the sport. Hiroshi Aoyama, team-mate to the late Simoncelli, ran with no livery on his machine.

With much of Spain having been hit by heavy rain and with more forecast over the weekend, it was a cautious field which took to the track. Jorge Lorenzo is not present, as he continues to recover, and is being replaced by Yamaha test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga who completed the field. Also out of action is Colin Edwards, who continues his convalescence after the Malaysian crash which took Simoncelli’s life.

Stoner’s best effort came in the form of 1:45.513, edging out Pedrosa by two tenths of a second. The aforementioned Capirossi ensured that three Ducati bikes finished amongst the leading quintet as Britain’s Cal Crutchlow entered the top ten for Tech 3.