In a week that started disastrously for French sporting fans, Randy De Puniet restored some pride by leading the first day of practice for the Polini Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix in Sepang today (Friday). Riding the Kawasaki, De Puniet led the way after two sessions in different conditions by just 0.011 seconds from World Champion Casey Stoner round the re-surfaced 3.447 miles circuit near Kuala Lumpur International airport.
The one-hour morning session, which was interrupted by rain, was led by Stoner’s Marlboro Ducati but De Puniet, on his penultimate grand prix appearance for Kawasaki before joining LCR Honda next year, led the way in the afternoon with Italian Marco Melandri third fastest.
Rain and the new surface kept the lap times down with former World Champion Valentino Rossi down in 16th place over two and a half seconds behind De Puniet. Spaniard Dani Pedrosa who has previous 125 and 250cc wins at Sepang was fourth in front of the impressive Ant West and Toni Elias.
Japanese rider Shinya Nakano, a previous 250cc winner at Sepang, is fighting for his grand prix future and his frustration was evident when he crashed the Konica Minolta Honda in both the morning and afternoon session.
The weather forecast for the next two days is typically Malaysia at this time of the year – humid, sunshine and thunderstorms in what ever order they want to arrive.
Results:
1. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) KAWASAKI 2'02.917,
2. Casey STONER (AUS) DUCATI 2'02.928,
3. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) HONDA 2'03.661,
4. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) HONDA 2'03.767,
5 Anthony WEST (AUS) KAWASAKI 2'03.825,
6. Toni ELIAS (SPA) HONDA 2'04.031,
7. Sylvain GUINTOLI (FRA) YAMAHA 2'04.094,
8. Chris VERMEULEN (AUS) SUZUKI 2’04.455,
9. John HOPKINS (USA) SUZUKI 2’04.494,
10. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) HONDA 2'04.752,
17. Chaz DAVIES (GBR) DUCATI 2'05.897.
Chaz Improves As Bradley Impressess
Chaz Davies improved his lap times by nearly three seconds in the afternoon MotoGP session while Bradley Smith made an impressive Sepang debut on the 125cc Repsol Honda.
In a better day for the British riders after their problems in Australia, a confident Danny Webb was 17th in the first 125cc qualifying session and Ulsterman Eugene Laverty 20th riding the LCR Production Honda in the first 250cc session.
Herefordshire – based Davies was pleased by his second session riding the Pramac D’Antin Ducati and also when he rode the bike in the rain in the morning.
“My back was a bit sore and I also had problems getting the bike to turn but I was pleased in the afternoon when I improved my times by nearly three seconds,” explained Davies, who was forced to retire in Australia last week with mechanical problems. “I was also pleased with the grip when it started to rain.”
Sixteen year-old Smith missed the race in Sepang last year through injury but looked in good form in the afternoon 125cc qualifying session.
“It was very slippery out there on the new surface in the morning but it improved greatly in the afternoon when some rubber was laid down although we still have a long way to go to match the times of the leaders,” said Smith.
