Stoner prepares for painful race in MotoGP warmup

Despite winces and grimaces when sat in his Ducati Marlboro garage, on track at Misano Casey Stoner continued to appear in rude health during the premier class warmup. The MotoGP poleman was, as in every session during the race weekend, the fastest 800cc rider on track, clocking a 1´34.644 lap to put him at the head of the timesheet.

Fellow Australian Chris Vermeulen was second, some seven-tenths of a second behind Stoner, whilst third fastest was home favourite and front row man Valentino Rossi. Toni Elias, Dani Pedrosa, Colin Edwards, Alex de Angelis, Loris Capirossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Shinya Nakano also featured in the top ten during the 25-minute session.

Sylvain Guintoli was the only rider to crash during the session, suffering an innocuous lowside with his Ducati Desmosedici SAT.