Pedrosa lays down challenge in second Brno session

Dani Pedrosa was the fastest MotoGP rider in the second practice at Brno on Saturday morning, setting a best time of 1’57.201 as he prepared himself for an attempt at securing pole position in the afternoon qualifying session.

The Repsol Honda rider was just 0.016s faster than Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo in the session and set the quickest time of the weekend so far with his 22nd of 23 laps, as Lorenzo kept a close tab on him and previewed what promises to be another intense fight for supremacy in round ten.

Andrea Dovizioso had been top close to the end of the hour with his best effort of 1’57.572, and that eventually placed him third at 0.371s off his team-mate’s marker. Casey Stoner (Ducati Team) was fourth (+0.487s on Pedrosa) with Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) completing the top five (+0.665s).

American trio Colin Edwards, Ben Spies (both Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) all registered top eight times, with rookies Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) both inside the top ten.

There were still some wet spots littering the track at the start of the session due to an overnight thunderstorm with the surface measuring a cool 19ºC, and one rider who had an early mishap was Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda). The Frenchman crashed 15 minutes in but fortunately escaped any bad effects as he continued his recovery on the bike after injury, returning to the track to set the 14th best time.

Less fortunate was Álvaro Bautista who crashed at turn three after half an hour, and the Rizla Suzuki rider appeared to be in some pain as he was stretchered from the track. Subsequent X-rays confirmed there was no fracture to his L1 vertebra, and the Spaniard will undergo a further medical check on Sunday morning to determine whether he can participate in the race.