Stoner makes rivals tremble with fastest wet morning time

On the mend from his Friday fever, Casey Stoner continued to give his rivals the shakes on Saturday morning in Brno. The reigning MotoGP World Champion was the quickest man on track in the damp third practice session, building expectations of a sixth consecutive pole position this weekend. The Australian´s fastest time of 2´09.609 came on only his fourth lap of the day.

Another rider who will fancy his chances if the Czech Republic circuit stays wet is Chris Vermeulen, second on the morning timesheet. The Suzuki rider trailed his fellow Antipodean by just over half a second –the only rider within a second of Stoner´s wet marker.

San Carlo Honda Gresini continued to impress in the run, although this time it was standard RC212V-using Alex de Angelis who came out on top. He was third quickest, nearly two-tenths of a second ahead of factory spec model equipped teammate Shinya Nakano on the Japanese rider´s first wet outing on the machine.

World Championship leader Valentino Rossi was fifth on the timesheet, ahead of John Hopkins, Loris Capirossi and highest finishing Michelin man Dani Pedrosa. Having struggled yesterday with hand pain and tyre problems, Pedrosa´s first wet run since his Sachsenring fall gave him a positional improvement in the standings.