2006 Australian Superbike Championship (YMF Loan) - Round Four - Queensland Raceway

Dorna Day 1 Report

As the countdown continues for the crucial season finale in Valencia this weekend, the atmosphere surrounding the MotoGP paddock has reached new levels of anticipation. Good weather and a huge turnout added to the hustle and bustle as the riders undertook their first practice laps today.

Loris Capirossi took it upon himself to remind fans that the Gran Premio bwin.com de la Comunitat Valenciana will not be as simple a straightforward battle between Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden, topping the timesheets on the first day of practice for Sunday’s race. The Italian rode round the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in 1’32.220, ahead of two of this year’s MotoGP rookies. Randy de Puniet and Chris Vermeulen completed the all-Bridgestone top three, whose fastest laps were the only ones under 1 minute 33 seconds.

Ahead of the biggest race of his career, Nicky Hayden was less than a second off Capirossi’s blistering pace, with two more MotoGP rookies Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa completing the top six. Pedrosa knows that if he can repeat his practice performances in qualifying it would be a huge boost to team-mate Hayden’s title aspirations. The American would certainly like a repeat of today’s timesheets, as his fellow Repsol Honda rider came in ahead of World Championship leader Valentino Rossi, who took seventh.

John Hopkins, Shinya Nakano and Troy Bayliss completed the top ten, the latter marking his return to MotoGP action with a time just over a second behind Ducati team-mate Capirossi.

Just outside the first ten today, Colin Edwards today announced that he would be continuing for Camel Yamaha next season as team-mate to Valentino Rossi.

Today also saw the presentation of the Best Grand Prix of 2005 prize, accepted on behalf of the circuit by Mr. Alejandro Font de Mora, Minister of Culture and Sport, Valencia.

After all three Fortuna Aprilia riders had headed the 250cc free practice classification this morning, it was Red Bull KTM’s Hiroshi Aoyama who put himself on provisional pole for Sunday’s Gran Premio bwin.com de la Comunitat Valenciana. The Japanese rider was the only quarter-litre star to go round the Cheste circuit faster than 1’36 seconds, with a best time of 1’35.982 towards the end of the session.

Two of the previously dominant Fortuna Aprilia squadron line up alongside Aoyama on the provisional front row of the grid, with Hector Barbera and Jorge Lorenzo in second and third on the timesheets. Marco Simoncelli, Andrea Dovizioso and Shuhei Aoyama completed the top six.

David de Gea, Alex de Angelis, Roberto Locatelli and Manuel Poggiali rounded off the top ten, whilst there was bad news for Yuki Takahashi in the morning session. The Japanese rider crashed out early on, fracturing his right femur and tibia and will be operated on this evening.

Alvaro Bautista has had a dream start to his final 125cc race weekend, taking provisional pole ahead of team-mate Mattia Pasini. The Spaniard clocked a lap of 1’39.639 to put him in front of Pasini, Lukas Pesek, Sergio Gadea and Hector Faubel. The top six is comprised entirely of Aspar Aprilia and Derbi Racing riders, with Nico Terol joining the aforementioned five.

Mika Kallio, Thomas Luthi, Julian Simon and Tomoyoshi Koyama complete the top ten. British rider Bradley Smith suffered a crash a few minutes before the end of the session, although walked away uninjured.