Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa fended off a pack of marauding Yamahas to take top spot in this morning's opening MotoGP practice session which saw the rest of the top five places occupied by YZR-M1 machinery.
The diminutive Spaniard is already within half a second of the Brno lap record on a 1'57.003 but has the spectre of title rival and championship leader Jorge Lorenzo just a tenth of a second behind him in second place. Pedrosa was hit in the chest by debris kicked up by Valentino Rossi's GP12, which also broke his fairing, and the session was red-flagged to clear up the mess.
Andrea Dovizioso led a spirited Monster Yamaha charge at the end of the session, bagging third place with his last lap while Cal Crutchlow did exactly the same thing and hopped up to fourth, the pair of the them leapfrogging Ben Spies. Dovi put in a 1'57.189 to be only 0.040 behind Lorenzo, while Crutchlow and Spies are four-tenths off.
Alvaro Bautista put his Gresini Honda in, you guessed it, sixth place but is less than half a tenth slower than the Texan. Ducati's Rossi managed to take seventh place but is a big step, and some six-tenths, behind Bautista. Stefan Bradl showed early promise and secured eighth.
Randy De Puniet finished as top CRT man in ninth overall with Yonny Hernandez brushing off a crash to end in tenth. Aleix Espargaro was third CRT man home and 12th overall. Colin Edwards was 15th and James Ellison 18th.
