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Post by BADGER on Jun 22, 2007 16:08:21 GMT
Full MotoGP free practice times (1 and 2 combined) from the British Grand Prix at a soaking wet Donington Park, round eight of the 2007 world championship.
Dani Pedrosa was fastest during this afternoon's second session, but was slightly slower than both Stoner and Nicky Hayden's morning time due to even heavier rainfall. *1st session
1. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1min 43.749 secs * 2. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1min 43.781 secs * 3. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1min 43.870 secs 4. Randy de Puniet FRA Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1min 44.302 secs * 5. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1min 44.371 secs 6. Colin Edwards USA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 1min 44.475 secs 7. Anthony West AUS Kawasaki Racing Team (B) 1min 44.498 secs 8. John Hopkins USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1min 44.716 secs 9. Marco Melandri ITA Gresini Honda (B) 1min 45.684 secs 10. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 1min 45.718 secs 11. Alex Barros BRA Pramac d'Antin MotoGP (B) 1min 45.774 secs * 12. Alex Hofmann GER Pramac d'Antin MotoGP (B) 1min 46.254 secs * 13. Toni Elias SPA Gresini Honda (B) 1min 46.777 secs * 14. Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1min 46.811 secs 15. Shinya Nakano JPN Konica Minolta Honda (M) 1min 46.926 secs 16. Carlos Checa SPA Honda LCR (M) 1min 47.027 secs * 17. Kurtis Roberts USA Team Roberts (M) 1min 48.464 secs 18. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Dunlop Tech 3 Yamaha (D) 1min 49.604 secs * 19. Makoto Tamada JPN Dunlop Tech 3 Yamaha (D) 1min 51.864 secs *
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Post by BADGER on Jun 22, 2007 16:12:58 GMT
MotoGP young guns Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa set the pace during two soaking wet free practice sessions at Donington Park - in which the championship leader took overall honours due to a faster morning time.
The famous British weather left lap times around 15 seconds from dry pace, with Stoner continuing momentum after his brilliant Catalan victory by leading the field this morning.
However, there was a surprise in second position with world champion Nicky Hayden lapping just 0.032secs slower than the Ducati star. Hayden has suffered a horrific start to his title defence, but made promising progress in a post-Catalunya test - and, as the American had desperately hoped, those handling improvements have carried over to Donington.
Stoner and Hayden's best lap times remained unbeaten during the afternoon session, due to even heavier rainfall, in which Hayden's Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa - famously poor in the wet last season - turned heads by being fastest. The Spaniard, currently third in the points behind Stoner and Valentino Rossi, was grinning from ear-to-ear after improving on his morning time by 1.2secs to sit just 0.121secs behind Stoner's FP1 standard.
Visibly less happy was Rossi, who was seventh fastest this morning and tenth this afternoon - leaving the Fiat Yamaha superstar tenth overall on combined times. It is tempting to suggest that Rossi's Michelins weren't a match for the Bridgestone wets, but Pedrosa, Hayden and Rossi's own team-mate Colin Edwards proved that isn't the case. Edwards was just 14th this morning, but was fastest of all this afternoon as the chequered flag waved, only to be pushed back to fourth by Pedrosa, Hayden and wet weather master Chris Vermeulen, of Rizla Suzuki.
Fourth overall on combined times was Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet, while new team-mate Antony West - a wet weather winner in 250GP and World Supersport - again excelled in the slippery conditions. The Australian finished eighth and fifth in the two sessions for a commendable seventh overall during his first day as a MotoGP rider.
If the rain continues all weekend, West could yet cause a much bigger shock.
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Post by BADGER on Jun 22, 2007 20:12:06 GMT
West makes instant impact.
A move to the MotoGP class shows no sign of 'diluting' Anthony West's wet weather genius - the new Kawasaki rider finishing his first competitive day at Team Green seventh overall in the Donington rain.
The 25-year-old Australian has previously won in the wet on both 250cc GP machinery and, more recently, in the World Supersport championship. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ant more than held his own today, spending much of the second practice session dicing with John Hopkins and Casey Stoner for first place.
West put in his fastest lap of the day right at the end of the afternoon to take fifth position - seventh on combined times - and believes there's plenty more to come.
"We had a few problems with the rear this morning but now it's a lot better. And it's really odd but the bike's becoming more comfortable even though the back tyre's done both sessions, so with a new tyre I'm sure we could go even quicker and get more traction," he declared. "At the moment, I'm really happy. I'm excited to be here and today was a good day. I was worried about the rain this morning but it's turned out well and I like working with this team: they seem to understand what I want. We've been trying things out and playing around, seeing what I like and what I don't like. A lot of testing in a short time."
Meanwhile, Kawasaki regular Randy de Puniet responded to the pressure from his new team-mate by setting the third fastest time in FP1, before slipping slightly to eighth in FP2 - but nonetheless held fourth overall.
"The conditions were bad and vision wasn't great but I'm happy about the bike: I had a good feeling and I'm confident," said Randy, who took his best MotoGP finish of fifth last time out in Catalunya. "We've been working on the tyres and the mapping, which are the most important things here. My knee's been painful but after this weekend there's a break, so I hope it will be completely better for the Sachsenring. Tomorrow, we will work on more of the same, especially tyre choice, depending on the weather." "Both riders did a good job to set up the machine today for a wet race but we must wait and see what happens tomorrow as we haven't got a dry set up," warned Kawasaki technical manager Naoya Kaneko. "We've adjusted the throttle to be more precise and gentle and sorted out the engine mapping and tyres. We've been very impressed with Anthony on his first time out. He was fast and really consistent and when he came in, he made good progress improving the set up. As for Randy, we know he mustn't stress his knee too much but we'll see how he'll cope. It's all good. We're really happy."
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