By Matthew Birt - MotoGP
Casey Stoner’s exceptional start to the 2011 MotoGP world championship showed no sign of relenting today when he topped the opening practice timesheets in Jerez.
A best lap of 1.39.551 set in cooler conditions this morning put the Aussie on top of the leaderboard by just 0.028s from Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa.
Stoner, who has never finished higher than third in a MotoGP race at the Jerez circuit, said the Honda RC212V was an easier bike to ride at the Spanish venue than the Ducati he rode between 2007 and 2010.
Stoner, who claimed a stunning debut victory for Honda at the season’s opening round in Qatar last month, said: “It seems to be a bit smoother to ride Jerez this year than in the past although this afternoon wasn't the best conditions, it was windy and it helped in some corners but in other corners it was pushing you wide.
"I felt the wind picking up in the final two laps of the morning session so I expected it this afternoon. It was a bit disappointing we couldn't improve the setting because it was quite difficult in the conditions.
"We need to wait for tomorrow to get a good understanding for the race. In the morning it is quite cold and difficult to find a feeling and then it becomes so windy in the afternoon."
For the second race in succession, Stoner and Pedrosa took each other on in their own private duel. Nobody else in the field could lap inside of 0.5s of Stoner’s quickest lap today but he refused to rule out another determined fight from reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo in Sunday’s 27-lap race.
He said: “As we saw in Qatar you just don't know. Dani and I seem a little more confident and ahead of the others but anything can happen, as we saw with Jorge in Qatar.
"He made a big step in qualifying and warm-up and in the race he was much faster than in practice. At the moment we have to focus on ourselves.”
Stoner also denied that he would have an advantage over Spaniard Pedrosa in Sunday’s race. Pedrosa will undergo surgery early next week to try and solve a long-running issue with his left arm that he suffered after a big practice crash in Japan last October.
Pedrosa was fighting for the victory in Qatar when he faded to third having complained of a numbness issue with his left hand and arm.
He has no idea how long he will make it in Sunday’s race before the problem strikes but Stoner said: “Sometimes riders are able to overcome a lot of different things.
"We know Dani is having more trouble at the end of race but if he is really determined and can block out the problem, maybe this weekend he can fight right until the last lap.
"You don't think about one rider who has a disability because they will do something special that you don't expect, this is a big mistake."
Stoner also expects new factory Ducati recruit Valentino Rossi to pose a stronger challenge this weekend after the Italian finished third fastest today.
Making some progress with the finicky GP11 machine, Rossi was five places higher up the rankings than the next best Ducati with Randy de Puniet eighth.
And Stoner said: "In the first session everybody is getting comfortable and if he had a good feeling he looked like he was pushing quite hard. He looked like he was angry with (Cal) Crutchlow, which is not normally Valentino's style. He's normally calm.
"Every week I think his shoulder is coming better so you never know. I won races with this bike at the end of last year so I'm sure Valentino can win races when the shoulder comes better, he'll be competitive."
Source: http://www.motorcyclenews.com