Lorenzo Tops Second Practice at Assen

Jorge Lorenzo managed to top the second and last practice session of the Dutch Grand Prix, as the Yamaha rider posted the best time of 1:36.756 ahead of nearest rival Casey Stoner. Reigning world champion and current leader of the overall classification Valentino Rossi failed to keep the pace with the leading pack, scoring the 4th best time, more than 7 tenths of a second behind.

Stoner dominated the second practice from beginning to almost end, but the last couple of minutes of the one-hour session were decisive in setting the overall classification. Yamaha's Lorenzo scored a lap one full second quicker than his previous result, while Stoner was unable to improve his lap times.

Under the circumstances, Lorenzo had no problems maintaining the lead until the end of the session, while Stoner managed to stay in 2nd place. Honda's Andrea Dovizioso was 3rd, ahead of Rossi, while Tech 3's Colin Edwards had to settle for 5th place.

Lorenzo's quickest time today was over a second faster than Randy De Puniet's best lap time during yesterday's practice (with which the Frenchman managed to top P1). Today, the LCR Honda rider only posted the 12th best time of the P2.

Only 8 riders managed to lap inside 1 minute and 37 seconds. Sixth overall was Honda's Dani Pedrosa, followed by Ducati's Nicky Hayden. The Kentuckian seems to have recovered from a poor start this season, despite still being over 7 tenths of a second slower than teammate Stoner. Eighth overall was Tech 3's James Toseland.

Scot Honda's Gabor Talmacsi had another disappointing day at Assen on Fridya, as the Hungarian rider once again finished a practice session at the rear of the pack. While still acclimatizing with the MotoGP machinery, the former 125cc champion finished more than 3.5 seconds off pace to Lorenzo.

1. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)                                 1:36.756
2. Casey Stoner (Ducati)                                     1:37.178
3. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda)                              1:37.248
4. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)                               1:37.490
5. Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha)                     1:37.617
6. Dani Pedrosa (Honda)                                     1:37.861
7. Nicky Hayden (Ducati)                                     1:37.924
8. James Toseland (Tech 3 Yamaha)                   1:37.939
9. Alex de Angelis (Gresini Honda)                      1:38.104
10. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki)                                  1:38.123
11. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki)                               1:38.322
12. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda)                       1:38.439
13. Toni Elias Gresini (Honda)                              1:38.455
14. Mika Kallio (Pramac Ducati)                            1:38.887
15. Marco Melandri (Hayate Kawasaki)                1:39.016
16. Niccolo Canepa (Pramac Ducati)                    1:39.197
17. Sete Gibernau (Hernando Ducati)                   1:39.582
18. Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda)                          1:39.862
19. Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda)                         1:40.338