Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner got off the floor from an early front-end crash in this morning final MotoGP free practice session to set the fastest time at a wet Brno with Valentino Rossi just shadowing Jorge Lorenzo for third place.
Stoner went down in turn three but walked away from the crash to go out for a run with ten minutes left on the clock, lapping in 2'07.321 which was enough to depose long-time leader Lorenzo by 0.005s. Rossi was only a further tenth in arrears and he must now be doing a rain dance in the garage.
The Doctor's lap was enough to demote yesterday's runway leader Dani Pedrosa, on the second Repsol bike, who didn't put in a run of fast laps right until the end of the session presumably not wanting to heavily risk a crash and further shoulder damage. He is a little over three-tenths in arrears.
The second Marlboro Ducati of Nicky Hayden is in fifth place, proving at least the Desmosedici's front end works in the rain, just in front of Hiro Aoyama who is one place ahead of Cal Crutchlow. Two factory Hondas, in the shape of Andrea Dovizioso and Marco Simoncelli round out the top ten just ahead of Ben Spies who is riding with a pinched nerve in his neck.
Colin Edwards is one place back while British Superbike front runner John Hopkins will not race after a crash in the same place as Stoner resulted in a broken finger and he has been declared unfit by medical staff.
Click here for Stoner's crash sequence by Bonnie Lane
