Rizla Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista has turned the MotoGP timesheet on its head in the wet second free practice session at Valencia this afternoon, setting the fastest lap ahead of Nicky Hayden while Randy De Puniet also raised a few eyebrows with consistent pace, topping his runs off with a lap good enough for third place.
Bautista staked his claim for top spot early on but then slipped down the order before bouncing back up to fourth, then taking the lead with ten minutes to go and then making sure of his top spot with a 1'47.975 to be the only rider under the 1'48 barrier.
Hayden, meanwhile, led a Ducati charge which had Karel Abraham at the tail in fourth place and a second off the pace before the Czech rider lost the front on some standing water going into turn one with a few minutes remaining.
Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow was fifth quickest on a 1'49.350 with Andrea Dovizioso the first of the usual suspects down in sixth place, one ahead of Valentino Rosso who will be wondering from where Marlboro Ducati team-mate Hayden, and the satellite Demsosecidi riders, have got their pace in the rain.
This morning's quickest man, Casey Stoner, is languishing in eighth place, 1.7s slower than Bautista and one place ahead of the final Repsol bike of Dani Pedrosa. AMA Champion Josh Hayes placed tenth as the chequered flag was shown, further confounding the paddock. The Monster Yamaha stand-in didn't pit in at all during FP1 and then did so only once in FP2...
Jorge Lorenzo's stand-in Kats Nakasuga finished in 11th place with Loris Capirossi and Hector Barbera right behind. Ben Spies had the same crash at Abraham into turn one halfway through the session while Hiro Aoyama and Toni Elias finished the list of crashers.
