Stoner dominates, Hayden detonates.
Friday, 13th July 2007
MotoGP World Championship leader Casey Stoner set the pace in both of Friday's free practice sessions for the German Grand Prix, the second of which ended with the internals of Nicky Hayden's Repsol Honda strewn across the race track.
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Stoner had led the morning session by a confident 0.686secs from Carlos Checa and the 21-year-old Australian held a similar margin, this time over title rival Valentino Rossi, by the midway point of the afternoon hour.
The Ducati Marlboro star's advantage later peaked at 0.758secs, before Rossi - winner last time out at Assen to climb within 21 points of Stoner - clawed it back to a more respectable 0.346secs by the conclusion of the hour.
And that hour ended in a haze of RC212V engine smoke after Hayden's factory Honda blew up in spectacular style along the main straight. Pieces of engine were sent bouncing along the track behind the reigning world champion, while oil was still spewing from the belly pan when he parked the machine at turn one.
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It marked the end of a frustrating session for the Kentuckian, who took his first podium of the season last time out at Assen but never seemed to recover from a lowside fall this morning. Nicky was the only rider not to improve in the afternoon and slipped from seventh to 16th as a result.
Meanwhile, at the sharp end of the grid, Hayden's team-mate Dani Pedrosa - tipped to conclude a new deal with HRC this weekend - was the top Honda rider in third, but only after knocking Checa from the position in the closing stages.
The Spaniard's satellite-spec RCV was much more competitive around the tight and twisty Sachsenring, but couldn't prevent Dunlop Tech 3 Yamaha rookie Sylvain Guintoli from bumping the former 500cc race winner down to fifth after an excellent end to the session with what is thought to have been a soft tyre.
Marco Melandri confirmed his chance of a competitive weekend with sixth for Gresini Honda – 0.7secs behind Stoner - while Alex Barros overcame a nasty morning fall, in which his hand was trapped under the bike, with seventh for Pramac d'Antin Ducati.
Friday, 13th July 2007
MotoGP World Championship leader Casey Stoner set the pace in both of Friday's free practice sessions for the German Grand Prix, the second of which ended with the internals of Nicky Hayden's Repsol Honda strewn across the race track.
Previous Page
Stoner had led the morning session by a confident 0.686secs from Carlos Checa and the 21-year-old Australian held a similar margin, this time over title rival Valentino Rossi, by the midway point of the afternoon hour.
The Ducati Marlboro star's advantage later peaked at 0.758secs, before Rossi - winner last time out at Assen to climb within 21 points of Stoner - clawed it back to a more respectable 0.346secs by the conclusion of the hour.
And that hour ended in a haze of RC212V engine smoke after Hayden's factory Honda blew up in spectacular style along the main straight. Pieces of engine were sent bouncing along the track behind the reigning world champion, while oil was still spewing from the belly pan when he parked the machine at turn one.
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It marked the end of a frustrating session for the Kentuckian, who took his first podium of the season last time out at Assen but never seemed to recover from a lowside fall this morning. Nicky was the only rider not to improve in the afternoon and slipped from seventh to 16th as a result.
Meanwhile, at the sharp end of the grid, Hayden's team-mate Dani Pedrosa - tipped to conclude a new deal with HRC this weekend - was the top Honda rider in third, but only after knocking Checa from the position in the closing stages.
The Spaniard's satellite-spec RCV was much more competitive around the tight and twisty Sachsenring, but couldn't prevent Dunlop Tech 3 Yamaha rookie Sylvain Guintoli from bumping the former 500cc race winner down to fifth after an excellent end to the session with what is thought to have been a soft tyre.
Marco Melandri confirmed his chance of a competitive weekend with sixth for Gresini Honda – 0.7secs behind Stoner - while Alex Barros overcame a nasty morning fall, in which his hand was trapped under the bike, with seventh for Pramac d'Antin Ducati.
