Positive tests for Stoner and Melandri

From Marlboro Ducati

JEREZ, SPAIN -- The Ducati Marlboro Team concluded its visit to Jerez de la Frontera on Monday with a day of tests that both Casey Stoner and Marco Melandri rated as highly positive, despite the Italian having ended the session early due to a crash.

Melandri was not seriously injured in the crash, escaping with damage to a nail on his left hand, and was just disappointed that he didn't get to complete an otherwise satisfactory day of set-up work that had only just begun to bear fruit.

Stoner was much happier, however, having improved his feeling with the front and giving himself extra confidence for the next round of the season, the Grand Prix of Portugal on April 13.

Stoner's fastest lap on race tires was 1:40.588 and with qualifying tires 1:39.218, leaving him third on the day behind the Yamaha duo of Jroge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi.

"We've done a few different tests on the setting and with the tires and I'm pretty happy with how it's gone," Stoner said. "We tried some different front tires that gave me a better feeling than I had in the race yesterday, especially under braking, so I can say it was a really positive test.

"It's a bit of a shame because with just a few small changes to the set-up we had yesterday the situation has improved a lot and we could have had a much better race if we'd gone with this in the first place."

Unofficial lap times
1. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1:38.679
2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1:39.117
3. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1:39.218
4. Randy De Puniet (Honda) 1:39.484
5. John Hopkins (Kawasaki) 1:39.569
6. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) 1:39.747
7. Shinya Nakano (Honda) 1:40.034
8. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1:40.166
9. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 1:40.389
10. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 1:40.394
11. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) 1:40.534
12. Alex De Angelis (Honda) 1:41.308
13. Marco Melandri (Ducati) 1:41.396
14. Anthony West (Kawasaki) 1:42.132
15. Toni Elias (Ducati) 1:42.240
16. Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati) 1:42.624