SEPANG: The Honda bikes ruled the opening day of the pre-season MotoGP tests with the dynamic duo of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa topping the timesheets at the Sepang Circuit yesterday.
The 17-rider grid for the MotoGP this season ran under clear skies and scorching heat as they kicked off the three-day tests in earnest.
It was 2007 world champion Casey Stoner and new Repsol Honda signing who was fastest with a time of 2:00.987 with Pedrosa coming 0.373 seconds behind with 2:01.360.
Stoner covered 53 laps and chalked up his fastest for the day on the 48th lap.
His Spanish team-mate, who lapped 46 times, earned his fastest time on lap 43.
Defending champion and Yamaha Factory Racing lead rider Jorge Lorenzo was third fastest with 2:01.468 while his new team-mate Ben Spies was sixth fastest with 2:01.808.
The Honda factory team might have ruled the first day of testing but expect the Yamaha duo of Lorenzo and Spies to put their bikes to the limits today.
?I?ve worked a lot on my physical condition over the last two weeks as I felt quite tired at the last test after not riding a MotoGP bike for so long.
?Now with a better condition and being more used to the bike again, I?m going to push harder,? said Lorenzo, who like Valentino, is a fan of the Sepang track.
Spies, the MotoGP Rookie of the Year last season, said they will be working on the set-up.
?We are trying to get that fast lap time out of the bike and some more race distance runs to see how the bike behaves after a few laps.
?We?ll mess with the electronics a little bit and see what we can do.
?The last test was evaluating and choosing parts to use for the year, now we have a base pack and we need to fine tune it to go faster,? said the American.
Honda rider Marco Simoncelli, who was fastest in the first test in Sepang earlier this month, could only manage eighth spot this time with a time of 2:01.996.
The San Carlo Honda Gresini rider stunned his more celebrated rivals on the final day of the first session with a time of 2:00.757.
The highest placing Ducati on day one was the factory GP11 of Valentino Rossi, notably without the wings that had featured on the fairing of the bike at its official presentation in January.
Appearing to enjoy an improved comfort on his injured shoulder in comparison to three weeks ago, the Italian worked on his set-up and on fixing his anti-wheelie setting, to post a best lap of 2:01.999, which was 1.012s off Stoner for ninth place.
Rookie Cal Crutchlow was clearly pushing his Yamaha bike to the limit as he crashed twice.
Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/csS3sIbAbV_/Stoner+Pedrosa+star+Honda+rule+early+pre+season
Lorenzo Baroni Jose Barresi Manliff Barrington Alex Barros Geoff Barry
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