The last MotoGP race of the season and World Champion Casey Stoner showed every intention of finishing the 18-round Championship in the same way as he started in Qatar way back in March. The 22 year-old Australian led both morning and afternoon practice sessions for the bwin.com Grand Prix of the Community of Valencia round the tight and demanding 2.489 miles Ricardo Tormo circuit.
Riding the Marlboro Ducati, Stoner held a slim one tenth of a second advantage over Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli who almost certainly popped on a Dunlop qualifying tyre on his Tech 3 Yamaha at the end of the afternoon session.
Spaniard Dani Pedrosa was third fastest on the Repsol Honda with Italian Marco Melandri fourth making his last appearance for the Gresini Honda team before joining Stoner at Ducati next season.
Former World Champion Valentino Rossi was eighth fastest, over six tenths of a second behind Stoner and behind fifth placed Chris Vermeulen, Randy De Puniet and Brazilian Alex Barros making his last grand prix appearance.
Results: 1 Casey STONER (AUS) DUCATI 1'32.968,
2. Sylvain GUINTOLI (FRA) YAMAHA 1'33.084,
3. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) HONDA 1'33.150,
4. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) HONDA 1'33.319,
5. Chris VERMEULEN (AUS) SUZUKI 1'33.501,
6. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) KAWASAKI 1'33.519,
7. Alex BARROS (BRA) DUCATI 1'33.541,
8. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) YAMAHA 1'33.620,
9. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) HONDA 1'33.650,
10. John HOPKINS (USA) SUZUKI 1'33.680,
18. Chaz DAVIES (GBR) DUCATI 1'35.029.
Davies Misses Afternoon After Morning Crash Chaz Davies missed the MotoGP afternoon practice session after falling from the Pramac D’Antin Ducati in the morning. The Herefordshire-based rider was taken to hospital in Valencia for a precautionary scan. He may have cracked a bone in his hand but is almost certain to be fit to ride in the qualifying session tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon.
In the 125cc class Bradley Smith spent both the morning practice and afternoon qualifying session setting up his 125cc Repsol Honda in preparation for the final round of the Championship on Sunday.
The 16 year-old Oxfordshire rider finally qualified in 15th place and is optimistic about his prospects in the final qualifying session.
“We have worked very hard on setting up the bike and have not worried too much about the lap times,” explained Smith before his last race with the Repsol Honda team. He joins the Polaris World Aprilia team next season. “We worked hard on tyre selection in both the morning and afternoon. We have a few small changes to make to the suspension but generally we are pleased with our first day’s work.”
Danny Webb was 26th fastest while Ulsterman Eugene Laverty was 27th in the first 250cc qualifying session riding the LCR Production Honda.
Spaniard Hector Faubel led that first 125cc qualifying session from his Bancaja Aspar Aprilia team-mate Gabor Talmacsi who leads his team-mate by ten points in the World Championship.
Sixteen Thousand Fans Pledge Roberts Support Over 16,000 names adorn the Oxfordshire-based Team Roberts KR212V machine in an amazing pledge of support for the MotoGP team in Valencia.
After the Australian Grand Prix the team announced it would place the names of fans who pledged their support through the team website, within the team logo on the fairing of the machine ridden by Kurtis Roberts at the final round of the MotoGP World Championship in Valencia.
The team has been staggered by the response and to accommodate all the pledges of support had to use many of its different sponsorship logos on the fairing.
The team hopes to make an announcement about its future plans in the next couple of weeks.
** It just so happends that londonbikers.com have got their name on Team KR's bike for this weekends race in Valencia. Our tag, Tasha www.londonbikers.com can be seen on the seat left section on the bike.
