Another Honda one-two as Stoner leads Pedrosa on the final test before the opening round at Qatar this weekend
Pre-season testing has concluded as Honda strike another victory ahead of the season opener at Qatar this weekend.
Throughout the test sessions held at Sepang and Qatar the story has been about the dominance of Honda, which continued last night. The second and final night test around the Losail circuit saw another episode of team mate versus team mate, with Casey Stoner leading Dani Pedrosa in the timesheets. Both riders clearly stamped authority on the rest of the field as the only riders clocking laps in the 1:55 barrier, setting the potential scene for the weekend.
Ben Spies finished the session in third place sixth tenths behind the leading Hondas, despite losing ground on the pair from yesterday the American remained satisfed. On the other side of the Yamaha pit Jorge Lorenzo concentrated on running a full race simulation, worryingly for the 2010 Champion he was losing grip towards the end of the simulated race laps.
The session saw a host of riders tumbling into the gravel, the sole British representative Cal Crutchlow came of the worst losing the tip off his little finger as his hand was trapped under the handlebars.
Apart from the gap to the top two positions third to 10th place were covered a little over one second - providing a good chance of a battling group of riders for the race on Sunday.
Time from Day Two:
1. Casey Stoner AUS Repsol Honda Team 1m 55.681s (46)
2. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 1m 55.745s (39)
3. Ben Spies USA Yamaha Factory Racing 1m 56.294s (45)
4. Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m 56.433s (70)
5. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 1m 56.439s (58)
6. Randy de Puniet FRA Pramac Racing Team 1m 56.445s (67)
7. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing 1m 56.707s (48)
8. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1m 56.716s (57)
9. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 1m 56.726s (68)
10. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m 56.740s (73)
11. Hector Barbera ESP Mapfre Aspar Team 1m 56.798s (62)
12. Alvaro Bautista ESP Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 56.931s (63)
13. Valentino Rossi ITA Ducati Marlboro Team 1m 56.988s (50)
14. Loris Capirossi ITA Pramac Racing Team 1m 57.345s (62)
15. Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1m 57.730s (28)
16. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing 1m 57.846s (49)
17. Toni Elias ESP LCR Honda MotoGP 1m 58.536s (57)
