Rossi Dominates Another Test Day at Sepang

Will somebody stop him? But then again, can anyone actually do it? We're talking about reigning MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi, who barely topped the 4th testing session of the off-season – out of an overall 4 – ahead of most likely 2010 championship rival Casey Stoner.

The Italian scored the best time of 2:00.271 after the Friday meeting on the Sepang International Circuit, having improved his yesterday lap time on the same venue by approximately 8 tenths of a second. Unlike yesterday however, Ducati's Stoner was not that close in the timing report from Rossi, as he finished the day more than 3 tenths of a second behind the Yamaha rider.

With Rossi's teammate Jorge Lorenzo sidelined for the entire Sepang test this week – due to a hand injury he picked up during a motocross training event – Ducati managed to end Day 2 with both its riders on the overall podium, as North American Nicky Hayden produced the surprise of the day and improved all the way to 3rd place (after finishing 11th yesterday).

Yamaha did, however, place two more riders inside the Top 5 on Friday, with Tech 3's Colin Edwards and Ben Spies separated by only 0.026 seconds in 4th and 5th respectively. Loris Capirossi again managed a decent testing session today, setting the 6th quickest time in Sepang, while followed by Honda's Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa.

The overall top 10 was completed by MotoGP newcomers Hiroshi Aoyama and Alvaro Bautista. The only notable incident of the day happened early on, when Marco Simoncelli fell heavily and injured himself in the process. Although taken to the hospital shortly after his crash, he returned to his team's garage later on.

01. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)                                  2:00.271
02. Casey Stoner (Ducati)                                        2:00.512
03. Nicky Hayden (Ducati)                                        2:00.703
04. Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha)                        2:00.988
05. Ben Spies (Tech 3 Yamaha)                               2:01.014
06. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki)                                      2:01.320
07. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda)                                  2:01.439
08. Dani Pedrosa (Honda)                                        2:01.478
09. Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda)                  2:01.692
10. Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki)                                      2:01.732
11. Randy De Puniet (LCR Honda)                           2:01.980
12. Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda)                         2:02.078
13. Hector Barbera (Aspar Ducati)                            2:02.080
14. Mika Kallio Pramac (Ducati)                                2:02.082
15. Aleix Espargaro (Pramac Ducati)                        2:02.367
16. Marco Simoncelli (Gresini Honda)                       2:03.689