Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner stole top spot in the opening MotoGP free practice session from Ben Spies with his final lap at Misano this morning, going three-tenths faster than the American who had only gone fastest just a lap earlier.
The Australian went round in 1'34.180 compared to Spies' 1'34.466 on the Yamaha. Dani Pedrosa went from quickest to third in the space of two minutes but is only 0.063s behind the Texan. With seven minutes left, Pedrosa's lead over Stoner was only 0.001s so Stoner's last lap belies the pace of the session.
Andrea Dovizioso, on the third Repsol bike, bagged fourth place with 15 minutes left and the Italian is eight tenths slower than Stoner with Marco Simoncelli making it four HRC machines in the top five. The local man is only 0.077s off his compatriot.
Reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo is currently struggling in sixth, a second off the pace and three-quarters of a second slower than his Factory Yamaha team-mate. He is shadowed in seventh by the leading Ducati of Hector Barbera on the Mapfre privateer bike.
Rizla Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista is once again starting strongly in eighth, just demoting Colin Edwards' Monster Yamaha with his last lap. Karel Abraham's Pacemaker Ducati is in tenth and one place ahead of Valentino Rossi on the factory Desmosedici.
The Doctor is 1.5s slower than old enemy Stoner but this season, that's not a bad start for the nine-time world champion. He is one place ahead of Cal Crutchlow on the Monster Yamaha, who lapped in 1'35.950 on a familiar track. Nicky Hayden is 13th and the last of the factory bikes.
