Buzzin MotoGP

Casey Stoner

Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner were swapping places for the fastest time in this mornings free practice session ahead of the Brno MotoGP on Sunday.

Rossi was riding with a modified YZR-M1engine, featuring improved acceleration, and took the top spot on his final lap, 0.129 seconds faster than Stoner on the Marlboro Ducati in the morning session.

In the afternoon free practice, however, Stoner hit back and set the fastest time of the day ahead of Rossi by 0.179 seconds, despite Stoner suffering some sort of illness for the past few days.

John Hopkins on the Kawasaki Racing machine finished in eighth place, despite crashing out in both of the sessions, fortunately unhurt.

Hopkins has been out of action since his huge crash in the qualifying session for the Assen round of the Championship in June, where he suffered multiple leg injuries.

He was on track today on the modified Yamaha, also featuring the new YZR-M1 engine but seemed to struggle for grip on his Michelin tyres.

Hopkins team-mate, James Toseland, didn’t have such a good day after crashing out with thirteen minutes of the session still remaining.  He stated that the engine was a great improvement but he too struggled for grip with the Michelin tyres.

Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda is back at work this weekend but things didn’t run smoothly for the young Spaniard as he finished down in sixteenth place.

Another rider suffering the same problem with the Michelin tyres having no grip, plus the fact he is still riding in pain after his recent injuries to his wrist and fingers.

Jorge Lorenzo, yet again struggling with the Michelin, finished in eleventh place today.  He was seen hobbling around the pits on crutches after the injuries he suffered last month at Leguna Seca.

In the 250cc qualifying session, Hector Barbera on the Team Toth Aprilia took the provisional pole position today on a damp track, seeing him crash on his in lap at the same spot as Toseland.

Mika Kallio took the second spot followed by Marco Simoncelli, Alex Debon and Hiroshi Aoyama.

In the 125cc session, the current champion, Gabor Talmacsi took the provisional pole position followed by Nicolas Terrol, Andrea Iannone and Britain’s Bradley Smith in fourth.

Rain brought a stop to the session with twenty minutes still remaining, however, the riders will soon back on track as the rain lightened.