Today saw the start of the ninth MotoGP round of the season at the A-Style Dutch TT Assen, in the Netherlands. After the first two free practice sessions, Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet and Anthony West lie second and 18th on combined times, respectively. Despite threatening clouds overhead, both sessions remained dry and de Puniet used his time constructively, with him and his team aiming to find a good set up and tyre choice, ready for Saturday's race. Happy with the results, he also managed to head the time sheets for the vast majority of the second session, until Casey Stoner just beat his time by a minuscule 0.212 seconds with just eight minutes to go.