REPSOL HONDA'S Dani Pedrosa clocked the fastest time in the second day of MotoGP testing at Jerez.
The Spaniard's quick lap came on qualifying tyres at the end of a day on which he also set the pace on race rubber. His single flying lap of 1m 39.993s was only half a second off his own pole position time from the Spanish Grand Prix in March.
MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner wasn't so lucky, highsiding his Desmosedici in a vicious accident, which left the 21-year-old maestro nursing torn ligaments in his left shoulder. The injury has forced Stoner to quit testing and return to his home in Australia.
It was a better day for the Honda Gresini Team whose riders Shinya Nakano and Alex de Angelis finished in third and fourth places on their 2007-spec RC212Vs after late laps on qualifying tyres. Having also tested set-up changes and race tyres today, Nakano will aim to further improve his pace on race rubber tomorrow. His rookie team-mate continued his rapid MotoGP familiarisation by working on machine and electronic settings before the run on qualifiers. The Italian also escaped unhurt from a fall today.
In the JiR Team Scot camp, fellow MotoGP rookie Andrea Dovizioso impressed on his satellite RC212V by setting the fifth fastest time with a late lap on qualifying Michelins. The 250cc world championship runner-up found improvements in the front end stability of his Honda today and will aim to find similar benefits at the rear of his machine under braking tomorrow.
2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden was one of the quickest riders on race tyres today, being only fractionally behind the pace of his Repsol Honda team-mate, Dani Pedrosa, on race rubber. Hayden focused on analysing machine set-up changes, working with his team to gain more data on the new RC212V's response to chassis adjustments.
Randy de Puniet, who has transferred from Kawasaki to Honda for the 2008 season, was one of only two riders in the top seven not to run on qualifiers today, the other being Hayden. De Puniet completed a committed 77-laps today, one fewer that Hayden, as he worked on honing the balance of his 2007-spec RC212V ahead of the coming season.
The only non-Honda rider in the top seven was Valentino Rossi riding the Fiat Yamaha whose lap on qualifying tyres was good enough for second place, 0.141s behind Pedrosa. The three-day test will come to a close at Jerez tomorrow and the MotoGP winter test ban will commence on December 1.
