Stoner rises to Motegi challenge on day one in Japan
. By Bikeland Staff
He may be facing an uphill struggle in his quest to keep his World Championship hopes alive, but more could not have been asked of Casey Stoner on Friday in Motegi. The Ducati rider recorded the quickest time of the day in the combined Free Practice standings for the A-Style Grand Prix of Japan, with a 1'48.121 lap of the track at which he reached the pinnacle of MotoGP achievement in 2007.
Stoner was seven-hundredths of a second faster than the only other rider with the chance to deny Valentino Rossi a sixth premier class title, Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa. The Spaniard had experienced a difficult morning on a damp track as he adjusted his Motegi setup to Bridgestone tyres, but was on fine form during the afternoon run. Pedrosa's pace and teammate Nicky Hayden's morning times will be a positive boost for Honda, who have not had a home winner at Motegi since Makoto Tamada's 2004 triumph.
Title favourite Rossi was also on the pace on Friday, just under four-tenths of a second slower than Stoner's quickest lap. The Fiat Yamaha rider had expressed interest in how Michelin-shod riders would fare on-track this weekend in the Thursday press conference, but he formed part of an all-Bridgestone top three on day one. The Fiat Yamaha rider made it three different factories in the top trio, with the news emerging that he will test the 2009 M1 on Monday —perhaps with his sixth MotoGP World Championship already confirmed.
Andrea Dovizioso was the highest placing satellite rider in fourth, and also the fastest man on Michelin rubber in the afternoon run. The Italian, who today announced he would replace Nicky Hayden in the factory Honda team in 2009, formed part of an extremely tightly packed group of riders separated by under a tenth of a second. That group included racewinner from the past three visits to Motegi Loris Capirossi, Alice Team's Sylvain Guintoli and 2006 World Champion Hayden, the fastest rider on track in the first practice session.
Marco Melandri took the second Ducati Desmosedici GP8 round in the eighth quickest time of the day, placing ahead of 2007 podium finishers Toni Elias and Randy de Puniet in the top ten.
With the announcement of Dovizioso's move to its Repsol Honda team, HRC also confirmed today that it would be supplying an RC212V to Team Scot next year, with the Italian's place taken by 250cc race winner Yuki Takahashi. Meanwhile, this year's partners of Team Scot, JIR, announced they would not have a Honda MotoGP machine for 2009.
250cc
Alex Debon took provisional pole for the A-Style Grand Prix of Japan on Friday afternoon, despite not having ridden at Twin Ring Motegi in over three years. The Lotus Aprilia rider came back from an early crash in the afternoon session to repeat his free practice form, clocking a 1'52.807 that allowed him the top spot on the 250cc grid's first draft.
The provisional front row was separated by under a tenth of a second, with World Championship leader Marco Simoncelli the closest to besting Debon's marker. Hector Barbera and Hiroshi Aoyama, the winner of the 2005 & 2006 races at Motegi, completed the frontline onboard their respective Team Toth Aprilia and Red Bull KTM machinery.
Winner of the last quarter-litre class round at Misano, Alvaro Bautista made his presence felt with a late lap of 1'53.125, enough to place him at the head of the second row before Saturday's second qualifying session. The Spaniard bested JiR Team Scot's home rider Yuki Takahashi, his Mapfre Aspar teammate Hector Faubel and Repsol KTM rider Julian Simon, who completes the second line.
125cc
Joan Olive placed on provisional pole for the 125cc A-Style Grand Prix of Japan, heading a qualifying session that took place on a drying track. The Belson Derbi rider, who finished fifth at the soaking 2007 race at Twin Ring Motegi, is chasing his first pole position in the class, and a 2'02.296 time put him halfway towards his qualifying goal.
Polaris World rider Bradley Smith also pencilled his name onto the front row, the only Aprilia rider to do so in the session as Derbi-armed competitors dominated the top five. The Briton was a tenth of a second down on Olive's time, with series leader Mike di Meglio and his Ajo Motorsport teammate Dominique Aegerter completing the frontline after the opening session.
Indianapolis poleman and raceday runner-up Pol Espargaro missed out on a provisional front row spot by just 0.029, and leads row two alongside the man who beat him to victory stateside, Nico Terol. Recuperating World Champion Gabor Talmacsi came back from a morning crash to join the trio, with Sandro Cortese completing the second line.
Whilst World Championship leader Di Meglio was able to place in the top four, main challenger Simone Corsi was only capable of 21st on the provisional grid.