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Stoner shows the americans how it's done

20/07/07

Casey Stoner has once again shown he is the man to beat during today's free practice sessions and, because Laguna Seca has been resurfaced again this year, even the home riders' local knowledge has all but been negated.

Previously, the American wildcards had ridden the Californian track so often they were used the bumps, and the very difficult Corkscrew corner, which threw MotoGP regulars into a spin.

Most of the notorious bumps, including the one just before the Corkscrew, have now been ironed out - but new ones have appeared on other parts of the track which regulars Hayden, Hopkins and Edwards will not have experienced before.

"This morning we had a few difficulties getting used to the track. For sure, the conditions feel a lot worse than they did last year. The surface is maybe a little better but the bumps are worse, the track is really bumpy now," said Ducati's Stoner.

He added this afternoon: "It's not too bad so far - we tried a different rear this afternoon and we've already done over race distance on the front. The new surface is better than last year out of the Corkscrew but it's worse everywhere else, but it's the same for everyone so we've just got to make the best of it."

Stoner scorched to a fastest time 1'22.997 this afternoon - half a second quicker than this morning - with Gresini Honda's Marco Melandri five-tenths behind and John Hopkins, who was fastest American, third.

“We’ve made a good start to the weekend, I’m happy. The bike is responding well and thanks to the new exhaust pipe the engine performance is much sweeter and I can ride it as I like around here," said Melandri. "I like this track – I was third here last year and after such a good ride in Germany I’m ready to fight for the podium again.”

Britain's Chaz Davies (click here for separate story) spent the session acclimatising to the Pramac Ducati at a track he has never raced on before, in leathers that do not fit him. He finished just seven-tenths behind "39-year-old" Laguna veteran Miguel DuHamel, who is standing in for Toni Elias.

MotoGP free practice two - conditions dry

1 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team DUCATI 1'22.997
2 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Honda Gresini HONDA 1'23.177
3 21 John HOPKINS USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'23.452
4 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'23.535
5 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'23.548
6 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'23.550
7 71 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'23.576
8 1 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'23.768
9 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'23.912
10 6 Makoto TAMADA JPN Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'23.965
11 7 Carlos CHECA SPA Honda LCR HONDA 1'23.998
12 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'24.043
13 13 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'24.077
14 50 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'24.173
15 95 Roger Lee HAYDEN USA Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'24.325
16 4 Alex BARROS BRA Pramac d'Antin DUCATI 1'24.457
17 80 Kurtis ROBERTS USA Team Roberts KR212V 1'24.666
18 56 Shinya NAKANO JPN Konica Minolta Honda HONDA 1'24.850
19 17 Miguel DUHAMEL CAN Honda Gresini HONDA 1'25.726
20 57 Chaz DAVIES GBR Pramac d'Antin DUCATI 1'26.459

MotoGP free practice one - conditions dry

1 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team DUCATI 1'23.410
2 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Honda Gresini HONDA 1'23.597
3 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'23.692
4 21 John HOPKINS USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'23.753
5 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'23.754
6 71 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'23.962
7 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'24.311
8 1 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'24.516
9 4 Alex BARROS BRA Pramac d'Antin DUCATI 1'24.552
10 95 Roger Lee HAYDEN USA Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'24.584
11 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'24.680
12 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'24.786
13 6 Makoto TAMADA JPN Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'25.032
14 7 Carlos CHECA SPA Honda LCR HONDA 1'25.097
15 56 Shinya NAKANO JPN Konica Minolta Honda HONDA 1'25.370
16 17 Miguel DUHAMEL CAN Honda Gresini HONDA 1'25.550
17 13 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'25.570
18 50 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'25.745
19 80 Kurtis ROBERTS USA Team Roberts KR212V 1'26.058
20 66 Alex HOFMANN GER Pramac d'Antin DUCATI 1'27.751