Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner was unable to take part in the first day of MotoGP testing at Sepang after straining his back while warming up for the opening session.

His place was taken by HRC test rider Kosuke Akiyoshi who only completed four laps to make sure everything was working correctly. The Australian rider received some treatment from a physiotherapist and after resting this evening he will hopefully feel better tomorrow and be able to begin his testing program.

"I was stretching this morning for a good twenty minutes preparing to go out on track for the first time and then all of a sudden my back just locked up on me, I couldn't move or do anything. I had to call someone to come and help me move into a position that was less painful! Then I had some physio on it straight away trying to get it better for this afternoon but it's wasn't feeling good," said Stoner.

"I had some more physio after lunch but it still wasn't easing up, I felt I could have gone out on the bike in the afternoon but we all agreed it would probably make it worse for tomorrow. We have two more days testing here in Sepang, we know the track well and we are getting to know the bike, we just need some time to test the new parts we have here to give feedback to HRC.

"I think tomorrow the track conditions will be better and as long as my back improves overnight we should get back on schedule with our testing programme tomorrow."

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