Pedrosa top in Misano

Eurosport - Fri, 03 Sep 14:57:00 2010

Dani Pedrosa returned to the head of the MotoGP timesheets by a dominant 0.6 seconds during Friday practice at Misano, San Marino.

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Pedrosa, winner in Indianapolis last time out, knocked title leader Jorge Lorenzo from the top for the final time just after the midway mark of the hour, then improved his best time to sit 0.672 seconds clear of the Fiat Yamaha rider by the closing minutes.

Lorenzo, who leads Pedrosa by 68 points in the championship, was unable to improve on his final laps and was bumped down a position by Dani's Repsol, Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, who edged 0.06s under Lorenzo's best on his very last lap.

Only one other rider got within one second of Pedrosa and that was local hero Valentino Rossi, winner at Misano for the last two seasons. Rossi was 0.767s behind Pedrosa, but less than a tenth from an unhappy-looking Lorenzo.

The top eight places in practice saw riders in team formation, with the two Repsol Hondas, followed the Fiat Yamahas, then the Monster Yamaha Tech 3s of Colin Edwards and Ben Spies and the Ducati Marlboros of Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner.

Fifth for Edwards was a welcome boost after the disappointment of Indy, at which Spies had started on pole and finished second to Pedrosa.

Hayden, who has not completed a racing lap at Misano since the circuit re-joined the grand prix calendar in 2007, was 1.2s from Pedrosa with Stoner 0.7s behind.

Marco Melandri, who could conclude a deal to join BMW in WSBK next season this weekend, was the leading satellite Honda rider in ninth for San Carlo Honda Gresini, while another Italian - Loris Capirossi - rounded out the top 10 for Rizla Suzuki.

The weather was fine and sunny on Friday but is predicted to deteriorate as the weekend goes on.

Crash.net / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 10 of 10

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  1. Odd by name odd by post....

    From JOE, on Sun 5 Sep 1:39

  2. Repsol Rosalind, for the record, I know Dani is­ talented... he's not one of the aliens for nothing.­ However he is not the best. So who are these inferior­ riders? Lorenzo? Stoner? Rossi? Maybe even rookie Ben­ Spies?

    You need only look at how consistently­ annoying your posts are to see why people post to annoy­ YOU. Annoying little Honda fan boy, you make yourself­ an easy target by talking nothing but balls. Have three­ guesses at who is the most successful manufacturer in­ GP by the way.

    Here's a tissue, dry your eyes.

    From Not A Friend Of Ross, on Sun 5 Sep 0:03

  3. I have to agree with everyone's constructive­ comments regarding dani, and i honestly can't­ disagree with any of them, but i just feel dani's­ on a high, the honda's going forward [let's­ face it so it should at last]the title race is over,­ not even i'm daft enough to think any different,­ but as a dani fan you have to grab the glory when it­ comes along, yes it would be a lot easier to be a rossi­ fan, but i don't do easy, and it was nice to hear­ the commentator jack burnicle say that dani was his­ favourite gp rider, so we are out there scattered­ about, although when i was in valencia last season i­ thought i'd died and gone to heaven when i saw just­ how many thousands of spanish fans he has- COME ON­ DANI!!!

    From REPSOL ROSS, on Sat 4 Sep 23:55

  4. It is a bit late in the season for all this 'how­ great Dani is' claims. He is too far behind Lorenzo­ to win the title this year and next season is likely to­ prove harder. Then it's back to 1000cc bikes and I­ really can't see him taking the title on one of­ those. In my honest opinion, he will never win a title,­ I think that if he doesn't win it next year he will­ be looking for a new job. Honda don't seem to think­ he can win it either, or why would they go out and get­ Stoner.

    From Michael F, on Sat 4 Sep 23:22

  5. repsol ross???? n++head! i cant wait to see you lose­ this one! and when you do. you'll go all quiet on­ everyone again!

    From jimbob333, on Sat 4 Sep 21:23

  6. Pedrosa....hmmm...a bit hot and cold that one.­ Fantastic to watch when on form but prone to dropping­ it when under pressure. Cant scrap it out in a group of­ riders either. Today was practice, nothing more. Even­ qualifying means nothing really, (see spies on pole,­ 2nd in the race). Dani is a great rider but needs­ consistency and has to be able to handle the pressure­ of top flight riders chasing him down. He's never­ won a title and i doubt he will.

    From , on Sat 4 Sep 13:37

  7. Remind us, Repsol Ross - how many Moto GP world­ championships has Pedrosa won? Sorry - what's that­ deafening silence??

    From Chris, on Sat 4 Sep 11:33

  8. Hi Repsol Ross, I've seen your loyalty(hences your­ name on here) to Dani, on here for a long time, however­ for my two penneth, I think Dani has talent, however he­ only seems to show it now an then. This season maybe­ from the half way point, he may have felt his ride for­ next season needed confirming with results as Stoner­ coming and Dovi improving and lots of other Honda­ riders improving in other classes eg. WSBK. So maybe he­ needs pushing/pressurizing a bit more all the time!! He­ needs to sustain the ambition and dirve a bit more­ constantly and also be able to scrap it out and win in­ tight races and not just win from the front in the­ races where he is faster. As for next 2 seasons, the­ battle will be Rossi, Spies, Stoner and possibly­ Lorenzo but think main fight will be Rossi V Spies!!!!­ Possibly Spies next years winner and Rossi in 2012 when­ back to 1000cc on a big fast Duke!!

    From DJH_185, on Sat 4 Sep 10:14

  9. Where's my old mate and fellow dani fan ROB? been a­ while since you've been on here, i thought with all­ dani's sucess i would have heard from you? drop us­ a post if you read this mate?

    From REPSOL ROSS, on Sat 4 Sep 9:17

  10. Right muppets, i'll say it now [are you listening­ john [odd] thomas] and all you other non believers of­ dani's talent- DANI PEDROSA IS GOING TO BLITZ THOSE­ INFERIOR RIDERS ON SUNDAY!!! and i'll re post this­ at 2pm sunday

    From REPSOL ROSS, on Sat 4 Sep 9:06
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