Stoner leads the way in Qatar

From motogp.com

Ducati Marlboro’s 2007 MotoGP title winner Casey Stoner was the man on the pace on night two in Qatar, finishing Monday’s session more than half a second faster than any of his rivals.

Stoner’s best effort of 1:57.139 was registered just before 9:15 p.m. and put him 0.608 secs. in front of Valentino Rossi, who briefly topped the timesheet at the midway stage of the session and eventually ended up second.

Rossi undertook 51 laps in total as he tested a new electronics system, while Stoner only undertook five or six lap bursts - and a total of 37 laps - as he debuted a new swingarm and tested the condition of his troublesome left wrist.

"We have worked well and we’ve made progress with the set-up of the GP9 so it has been a positive day despite the difficult track conditions," commented Stoner. "Pretty much the same goes for the wrist – it’s obviously still not 100 percent yet but it is better than Malaysia and better than I was expecting for this test, so it’s looking hopeful from that point of view too. In general I am satisfied."

Third on the timesheet was Tech 3 Yamaha’s Colin Edwards with a similar time to Rossi’s best, as he continued his good preseason performances, in contrast to his team-mate James Toseland who was last on the timesheet – three seconds off Stoner’s pace.

A fast lap from Andrea Dovizioso with less than five minutes to go before the midnight conclusion of the test put him fourth overall, just ahead of Rizla Suzuki colleagues Chris Vermeulen (who crashed without consequence earlier in the evening) and Loris Capirossi.

Away from the timesheet the big news of the evening was a heavy crash at around 10:00 p.m. for Dani Pedrosa at turn 10 (see earlier post).

Following the Pedrosa crash there was a second red flag of the session when Ducati satellite rookie Mika Kallio suffered an accident in turn nine.

The Qatar test concludes Tuesday night with a third and final evening session from 6:00 p.m.-midnght local time.

Day Two Times
1. Casey Stoner, Ducati Marlboro Team - 1:57.139 (37)
2. Valentino Rossi, Fiat Yamaha Team - 1:57.747 (51)
3. Colin Edwards, Tech3 Yamaha - 1:57.817 (41)
4. Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda - 1:57.879 (60)
5. Chris Vermeulen, Suzuki MotoGP - 1:58.018 (24)
6. Loris Capirossi, Suzuki MotoGP - 1:58.264 (42)
7. Jorge Lorenzo, Fiat Yamaha Team - 1:58.400 (63)
8. Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Honda Gresini - 1:58.441 (53)
9. Nicky Hayden, Ducati Marlboro Team - 1:58.577 (54)
10. Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda - 1:58.619 (28)
11. Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda MotoGP - 1:58.936 (55)
12. Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini - 1:59.036 (56)
13. Yuki Takahashi, Scot Racing Team Honda - 1:59.153 (65)
14. Marco Melandri, Hayate Racing Team Kawasaki - 1:59.195 (63)
15. Niccolo Canepa, Pramac Racing Ducati - 1:59.266 (36)
16. Mika Kallio, Pramac Racing Ducati - 1:59.764 (48)
17. James Toseland, Tech3 Yamaha - 2:00.234 (51)