Ducati Top Testing Sessions at Valencia

Ducati has topped both testing sessions at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia this week, with Casey Stoner and newly-signed Nicky Hayden clinching the best times on Monday and Tuesday respectively. Stoner made the best out of Monday's practice and scored a time 10th of a second better than the one on Sunday's race, while Hayden took advantage of a shortened session – due to poor weather – to better his 6 opponents on Tuesday.

The American took his second test on the new Ducati GP9 bike this week, as he only managed the 12th time at his very debut with Ducati on Monday. He was almost 1.5 seconds slower than teammate Stoner, but insisted that he had fun riding the new bike and will improve his on-track performances in the days to come.

Second overall in the Tuesday session was another newly-signed rider, Italian Andrea Dovizioso, also on his second ride with new team Repsol Honda. The former 125cc champion ended the day less than one 10th of a second behind the American. The two continued their rivalry from last season – mostly visible in the last 2 races – but it was not Hayden that got the upper hand at the end of the day.

Marco Melandri was also on fire on Tuesday, scoring the 3rd best time of the day, almost half-of-second behind Hayden. The former Ducati rider got acquainted real quick with his new Kawasaki bike and ended the testing session ahead of Alice Team rookies Mika Kallio and Niccolo Canepa. Last riders on the timing sheets on Tuesday were Honda Gresini's Toni Elias and Suzuki's Loris Capirossi.

Earlier this week, Stoner topped the first testing session in Valencia ahead of championship rivals Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi. The three riders were the only ones scoring times within one minute and 33 seconds. Next on Monday's timesheet were Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi, followed by De Angelis, Lorenzo and Dovizioso.