FIM MotoGP World Championship Valencia, Spain October 27 Friday’s Best Combined Practice Times: 1. Loris CAPIROSSI (Ducati) 1:32.220, Bridgestone 2. Randy DE PUNIET (Kawasaki) 1:32.408, Bridgestone 3. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki) 1:32.786, Bridgestone 4. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda) 1:33.019, Michelin 5. Casey STONER (Honda) 1:33.080, Michelin 6. Dani PEDROSA (Honda) 1:33.254, Michelin 7. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 1:33.274, Michelin 8. John HOPKINS (Suzuki) 1:33.369, Bridgestone 9. Shinya NAKANO (Kawasaki) 1:33.394, Bridgestone 10. Troy BAYLISS (Ducati) 1:33.433, Bridgestone 11. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 1:33.545, Michelin 12. Marco MELANDRI (Honda) 1:33.556, Michelin 13. Makoto TAMADA (Honda) 1:33.689, Michelin 14. Kenny Lee ROBERTS (Roberts/Honda) 1:33.795, Michelin 15. Carlos CHECA (Yamaha) 1:33.860, Dunlop 16. Toni ELIAS (Honda) 1:33.954, Michelin 17. James ELLISON (Yamaha) 1:34.323, Dunlop 18. Alex HOFMANN (Ducati) 1:34.681, Dunlop 19. Jose Luis CARDOSO (Ducati) 1:35.292, Dunlop 20. Garry McCoy (Ilmor X3) 1:36.076, Michelin Current MotoGP World Championship Point Standings going into Valencia finale: 1. Rossi, 244 points 2. Hayden, 236 points 3. Melandri, 217 points 4. Capirossi, 209 points 5. Pedrosa, 202 points 6. Roberts, 126 points 7. Stoner, 119 points 8. Edwards, 117 points 9. Hopkins, 111 points 10. Elias, 106 points 11. Vermeulen, 98 points 12. Gibernau, 95 points 13. Tamada, 92 points 14. Nakano, 83 points 15. Checa, 69 points 16. De Puniet, 37 points 17. Hofmann, 30 points 18. Ellison, 24 points 19. Cardoso, 10 points 20. Akiyoshi, 3 points 21. McCoy, 1 point More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: CAPIROSSI TAKES FOCUS AWAY FROM ROSSI-HAYDEN BATTLE 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. 250c 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. 125cc 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. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing: PROVISIONAL FRONT ROW FOR FLYING DE PUNIET Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet got his Valencia weekend off to a flying start today by finishing this afternoon’s free practice session second fastest, as Bridgestone riders filled all three of the top slots on the timesheet. The 25-year-old Kawasaki pilot was on the pace from the start this morning, quickly finding a good rhythm aboard his Ninja ZX-RR and then working together with his crew to further refine the set-up of the bike. As the track temperature increased for the afternoon free practice session, de Puniet switched his attention to evaluating the race tyre options that Bridgestone have made available for Sunday’s 30-lap Grand Prix of Valencia. After lapping consistently in the top ten on race tyres, and less than half-a-second off the provisional pole sitter, de Puniet ended the session with a fast lap on a qualifying tyre, in preparation for tomorrow’s all-important qualifying session. The Kawasaki pilot initially took provisional pole with his fast lap, but was then ousted from the top spot right at the end of the session by Loris Capirossi, who also set his fastest lap on a qualifying tyre. Shinya Nakano finished the opening day of practice in ninth place, after opting to stay on race tyres throughout the hour-long afternoon session in order to continue working on the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR for Sunday’s race. The 28-year-old Japanese rider had some problems with front-end chatter throughout the practice session, but is confident that this can be dialled out with some minor changes to the suspension settings ahead of tomorrow’s two track sessions. Randy de Puniet: 2nd – 1’32.408 “Today was a good start to the final race weekend of the season. I felt comfortable on the bike straight away this morning, and this meant we were able to get on with the job of refining the set-up without having to work through any problems first. This afternoon we worked through some of the tyre options that Bridgestone have available, with very positive results. Set-up and tyre choice are critical here, as it’s a long race and tyre performance will inevitably drop off by the halfway point. With this in mind, we have tried to find a good balance with the bike, and on the tyre we think we will use on Sunday my lap times were consistent, even after a long run. Qualifying high up the grid is also important, as this is a difficult track on which to pass. For this reason we tried a qualifier last thing this afternoon, and I was quite pleased with the lap time, although I still think there’s more to come from the qualifying tyre tomorrow.” Shinya Nakano: 9th – 1’33.394 “We made some changes to the bike after this morning’s practice session, which gave us some improvement this afternoon, but we still have some work to do on the set-up. At the moment it seems I have a small problem at each corner – in some the rear is spinning and sliding, and in others there is some front-end chatter – but I don’t think we’re too far off a good set-up on the bike, and I’m sure some small adjustments tonight will lead to further improvements ahead of practice and qualifying tomorrow. Our tyre situation for the race looks pretty good. We went harder and harder with the rear compound this afternoon, but I finally found a tyre that I’m happy will work well in Sunday’s race. Overall, it’s been a pretty positive start to the weekend.” Naoya Kaneko: Technical Manager “Last year we had a lot of problems with the performance of the right hand side of the tyre, but Bridgestone have addressed this problem and we’re in much better shape this time around. Now we need to work through some of the options with regard to the balance between right and left hand grip, and we need to make some fine adjustments to the bikes, to allow the riders to keep their lap times consistent when tyre performance starts to drop off in the race. While it is important that we finalise our race set-up tomorrow, we must also ensure that we’re prepared for qualifying. It is difficult to make up places lost at the start here in Valencia, so we need to make sure that both riders qualify as close to the front of the grid as possible.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone Motorsport: LORIS CAPS OFF STRONG START FOR BRIDGESTONE RIDERS Ducati’s Loris Capirossi led a trio of Bridgestone-shod riders at the top of the timesheets after the first day of practice for this weekend’s Valencia GP in Spain. The Italian, who lies fourth in the riders’ championship heading into this final event of the year, beat Kawasaki rider Randy de Puniet into second place by 0.188s. Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen used his expertise around Valencia to good effect to finish the day in third position, ensuring that each of Bridgestone’s teams is represented in the top three. In addition to valuable preparation work for Sunday afternoon’s lengthy thirty lap race, the three riders also completed a qualifying simulation towards the end of the afternoon session which cemented Bridgestone’s presence at the front on Friday. Capirossi’s best time on race tyres was equally impressive with his lap of 1m33.072s just fractionally off Nicky Hayden’s best of 1m33.019s and marginally ahead of Casey Stoner’s 1m33.080s, perfectly encapsulating the competitiveness of the field on this final race weekend of the season. De Puniet and Vermeulen were also quick throughout the day on race tyres and their best “race” laps would have still been good enough to claim top ten positions. All six Bridgestone-shod riders started the Valencia weekend strongly with all riders setting top ten times. John Hopkins, Shinya Nakano and Troy Bayliss were separated by less than one-tenth-of-a-second as they secured eighth, ninth and tenth respectively. Bayliss is making his Ducati return this weekend in place of injured Sete Gibernau and the Australian rider wasted no time re-acquainting himself with MotoGP at a circuit where he still holds the top speed record, 321.141kmh, from the 2004 season. Shinji Aoki Bridgestone Motorsport – Assistant Manager Motorcycle Race Tyre Development: “On the final Friday of this season, we assumed a combination of strategies with our teams in order to fully prepare for tomorrow and Sunday. Loris, Randy and Chris’s best times were all set on our qualifying tyres to allow us an accurate simulation of compounds for tomorrow afternoon, when the performance matters most. Randy actually conducted two runs on qualifying tyres at the end of the session to run a compound comparison, which yielded similar results, both of which are encouraging for qualifying proper tomorrow. However, these qualifying times actually mask the initial strong performance that we were able to achieve on race tyres. Loris was pace-setter for most of the second session and ultimately his best “race” lap was second only to Nicky Hayden. We are conscious of the demand for longevity this weekend. Thirty laps represent a tough race on Sunday afternoon and Valencia is one of the longest race distances of the year, so we will be taking a close look at our endurance when we complete long runs in tomorrow morning’s practice session.” BRIDGESTONE COMBINED FREE PRACTICE SESSION RESULTS Pos Rider Bike Session 1 (pos) Session 2 (pos) Gap P1 Loris Capirossi Ducati 1m33.474s (4) 1m32.220s (1) Quickest P2 Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 1m33.774s (9) 1m32.408s (2) +0.188s P3 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m33.513s (5) 1m32.786s (3) +0.566s P8 John Hopkins Suzuki 1m33.845s (12) 1m33.369s (8) +1.149 s P9 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki 1m33.815s (11) 1m33.394s (9) +1.174s P10 Troy Bayliss Ducati 1m33.699s (8) 1m33.433s (10) +1.213s Weather: Air 25°C, Track 32°C, Humidity 34% (afternoon session) More, from a press release issued by Camel Yamaha: ROSSI MAKES TENTATIVE START TO TITLE QUEST IN VALENCIA Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi today began preparations for the race that will decide the destiny of the MotoGP World Championship title as the first free practice sessions took place at Valencia. Fans have already begun to stream into the Ricardo Tormo circuit to witness the first exchanges of what promises to be another historic chapter in this sport’s great history, with bright sunshine and warm autumn temperatures of 25ºC welcoming them to the eastern coast of Spain for the final round of the season. In the morning session Rossi and his Camel Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards helped raise the heat with a series of quick laps that left the Italian on top of the time sheets, with the American sixth fastest, over lunch. However, the pace picked up considerably in the afternoon as a number of riders tested out their qualifying rubber ahead of tomorrow afternoon’s grid decider and the pair slipped down the order, with Rossi ending the day seventh fastest overall and Edwards, who was unable to improve on his best lap from the morning, down in eleventh. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) clocked the fastest time of the day with a lap of 1’32.220, ahead of Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki) and Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki). Rossi and Edwards will look to close the gap as they work on further setting refinements to their YZR-M1 machines in the final free practice session tomorrow morning, before official qualifying gets underway at 2pm local time. VALENTINO ROSSI (7th 1’33.274; 51 laps) “We found a good setting this morning and we were quite fast from the start, but this afternoon some of the others made big improvements and caught up with us! This afternoon we tried a lot of different things and quite a few tyres, trying to find the best possible package for tomorrow and Sunday. Tyres are fundamental here and its very hard on the left side of the tyre especially. This track isn’t so easy and it takes time to find the right setting, but the feeling from the bike is good and in general our race pace is quite fast so we’re not really worried. We’ve got one or two things to improve, especially in a couple of the hard braking areas, but I think if we can make just a couple of improvements then we will be able to fight at the top. For now we will stay calm and focused and tomorrow things will be clearer.” COLIN EDWARDS (11th 1’33.545; 39 laps) “It’s okay, everything is under control! Our new breakthrough, ‘miracle’ setting that we found in Motegi needed a few tweaks before it was perfect for Estoril and here it’s the same story. In fact we need to make a few small changes back towards the Motegi setting in order to have it perfect for this track. Everything we’re learning and understanding here, especially with the setting, is going to be really valuable next year, even with the new bike, so that’s quite exciting. We understand why it was perfect in Portugal and why we’ve got some problems here, so there’s no need to panic. We’ll make some changes tonight and I’m confident that we’ll be back up there tomorrow.” DAVIDE BRIVIO CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR “With Valentino we worked a lot today on many different things. We’re still trying to fine tune the setting and select the right tyres but anyway the situation is not so bad. Colin this morning was quite fast but now we need to look at what happened this afternoon because he couldn’t improve on that time. We’ve got some work to get through tonight to see how we can improve with him but it seems his team understands what they need to do and I am sure they will be able to bring everything together for tomorrow. It’s not a perfect start but we’re relaxed, it’s only Friday and we have all of Saturday to improve.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Marlboro: GREAT START TO 2006 FINALE FOR DUCATI MARLBORO MEN Ducati Marlboro Team rider Loris Capirossi made a perfect start to the final Grand Prix of MotoGP’s 990cc era at Valencia this afternoon, setting the fastest lap of the day in warm, cloudy conditions. Troy Bayliss, replacing the injured Sete Gibernau, also got off to a brilliant start, going tenth quickest, even though he didn’t use qualifying tyres. Both Capirossi and Bayliss are very happy with Bridgestone’s latest race rubber. Capirossi rode a 1m 33.0s with these tyres. He also tried one qualifying tyre but believes he will be able to go significantly quicker when he tries different Bridgestone qualifiers tomorrow. Bayliss, who recently secured his second World Superbike crown with Ducati, enjoyed a warm welcome from the Ducati Marlboro Team, with which he contested the 2003 and 2004 MotoGP series. The Australian immediately felt at home, working to get the best out of the Desmosedici GP6 for its last race. Four years ago Bayliss gave the GP3 its public debut here on the occasion of the 2002 Valencia GP. Loris Capirossi, Ducati Marlboro Team, 1st, 1m 32.220s “I’m very happy because we’ve worked very well today – the team is being very reactive. We totally changed the set-up for this afternoon, so the bike is now pretty competitive here. We have learned so much this season, understanding that the Desmosedici’s settings needs very careful attention to work at each track. And everything we have learned this year will be crucial for the future because the GP7 chassis is very similar to the GP6 chassis. I’m happy with the new race tyres that Bridgestone have brought here. I did a run of 15 laps on the same tyres, setting the fastest pace of the day in race trim without any endurance worries. This season I have tried many different qualifying tyres and sometimes it’s easy to lose your way with qualifiers, so it was good to test one today, even though it wasn’t exactly what I wanted for this track. I’m very happy to have Troy as my team-mate here and I’m hoping to end the season as well as I can.” Troy Bayliss, Ducati Marlboro Team, 10th fastest, 1m 33.433s “I’m very happy with the start I’ve had, considering this is my first time on Bridgestones. I haven’t used a qualifier yet, so I’m doing okay. When I first went out the bike felt quite a bit different to the Superbike but after a couple of laps it felt like I’ve been on this bike before. Of course, a few things have changed since 2004, but it wasn’t long before I felt reasonably good on it but a little bit away from perfect. Ernie (Ernesto Marinelli, Bayliss’ Superbike crew chief) and myself don’t know the Bridgestones, what temperature the front works best at and so on but we’ve got a few got a few good ideas to test tomorrow. Loris made a couple of changes this afternoon that really helped him, so now we know what to do. With Sete injured it made sense for me to come here, I want to do a good job but I’ll just do what I can do.” Afternoon session temperatures. Ambient: 25 degrees. Track: 32 degrees More, from a press release issued by Pramac D’Antin: FIRST PRACTICE FOR THE PRAMAC D’ANTIN MOTOGP TEAM AT VALENCIA Today, the first sessions of free practice were held on the Ricardo Tormo circuit of Valencia. This is the final round of the 2006 MotoGP World Championship and also the most expected one. In Spain, where the atmosphere is always fantastic, the PRAMAC D’ANTIN MOTOGP Team is at home and want to make a good result to end the season in the best way. ALEX HOFMANN classified himself 18th at the end of the first day; while his Team mate, JOSE LUIS CARDOSO, is 19th. Tomorrow, there will be another session of free practice, before the single qualifying practice session at 2:00pm. ALEX HOFMANN #66: “This morning, as a beginning, things went quite good. We worked on the set-up and the general balance of the motorcycle; the first approach seemed to be quite satisfying. Unfortunately, this afternoon, the temperature slightly increased and didn’t allow us to go on working in the same direction. We made our best, trying many variations but we still haven’t found a solution really adapted to our needs. Now we will study all the data for tomorrow. Obviously, the high temperature doesn’t help us and we will need to understand why, to resolve the situation. Tomorrow it will be important to make a good result and I will do my best with all my Team”. JOSE LUIS CARDOSO #30: “From this morning, I can say there have been improvements, about the feeling but also about the general rhythm. We tested many tyres but, the difference between each one of them is always very small and the feeling is never perfect. Tomorrow, we will go on working harder, we will try other solutions, to be coordinated to the tyres we will have at our disposal. I would like to make a good race here, I like this track and I’m at home”. EMANUELE MARTINELLI – Track Engineer of Alex Hofmann “After the quite positive beginning of this morning, it happened what already happened in Estoril. When the temperature slightly increased we talk about more or less 8°c in today’s case-, we begin to have difficulties with the set-up. We will need to analyse every detail of today’s data and we will make our best to adapt the set-up of the motorcycle to the tyres, according to the ones we will have at our disposal”. More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Honda: FOCUSED ON THE RACE FORTUNA HONDA riders Marco Melandri and Toni Elías ended the first day of practice for the Grand Prix of Valencia in eleventh and fifteenth place respectively. The two youngsters worked alongside their chief mechanics throughout the day as they look to find the best bike set-up for the tricky Valencia circuit. Marco Melandri, who won here last season, is aiming to end the season on a high in a race which will decide the 2006 MotoGP World Champion. Marco is hopeful of completing a positive day of practice tomorrow as he prepares his RC211V for one of his favourite tracks. With that great victory at Estoril two weeks ago now behind him Toni Elías is desperate to shine again in front of his home fans. MARCO MELANDRI: (1’33″556, 11th): “I am not satisfied because I can’t find the feeling with the bike that will allow me to ride comfortably. I want a good finish to the season so my only focus now is to work hard with my mechanics and make sure we do the right job tomorrow.” TONI ELIAS: (1’33″954, 15th) “I can’t be happy with the result today but I am still confident about my chances on Sunday. The first day is usually difficult for us but we have plenty of room to improve and I hope we can solve some of the problems tomorrow. We have to Cork hard on the chassis and suspension configuration but I have a good team behind me and that gives me optimism for Sunday.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP PUSHING HARD IN VALENCIA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen will be hoping to fine tune their machines during Saturday’s final practice sessions, as they go in search of a good result from Sunday’s final GP of the year at Valencia in Spain. Vermeulen (1’32.786, 56 laps) recorded the third fastest time of the day towards the end of this afternoon’s free practice session. He was using a Bridgestone qualifying tyre when he set his quickest time, but he was also amongst the fastest riders of the day on race tyres setting the fifth quickest time in the morning session. Vermeulen tried many different combinations of Bridgestone tyres and found a set-up that he was pleased with towards the end of the second session. He will test tyres further tomorrow to obtain as much data as possible in readiness for Sunday’s race. Hopkins (P8, 1’33.369, 56 laps) is still looking for improved grip from his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R around the 4km Valencian circuit, but is confident that he can make big improvements tomorrow. He is looking to finish the season on a high and will be determined to get as good a starting position for Sunday’s race during tomorrow afternoon’s timed qualifying session. Today’s free practice sessions were held in warm and dry conditions with track temperatures reaching 32°C. The fastest time was set by Loris Capirossi on his Bridgestone-shod Ducati. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP has one more free practice session on Saturday morning, before the timed qualifying session in the afternoon. Sunday’s race is the final round of the MotoGP season and the 30-lap event will get underway at 14.00hrs local time (13.00hrs GMT). Chris Vermeulen: “I was happy this morning to come to a circuit that I knew. I was able to go straight out and get into a good rhythm because I knew which way the track was going and I was able to follow the right lines. It felt really comfortable this morning but the track temperature certainly increased this afternoon. We made some changes to the bike that definitely improved it and we have tried quite a few tyres for Bridgestone. We found a tyre this afternoon that works pretty good and we will test that further to make sure that it will last race distance. I am quite happy with everything today and will certainly be looking to go a bit quicker tomorrow!” John Hopkins: “I have been struggling a bit this afternoon to find the best grip for the bike, it’s something that we will be working on tomorrow and we have some different tyres that we will be trying. That’s really the main thing to concentrate on at the moment – we need to find that extra edge grip because that is really important round here. Other than that we have worked pretty hard all day and we have a plan of what we want to do tomorrow, so we will be coming out and be ready to go for it. Paul Denning Team Manager: “It’s the last Grand Prix of the year, and you can certainly see that from how hard all the riders are pushing – our guys are firmly within that group! It has been a good day’s work and both of the crews and the riders have been working hard to find the best combinations to give good grip and durability. The GSV-R is on its side so much around this track you need good edge and drive grip in order to achieve consistent lap times. Chris found a tyre towards the end of the afternoon session that worked better than any other Bridgestone combination so far. That will give John something to try tomorrow afternoon if the weather is similar. It has been refreshing for Chris to come to a track that he knows from previous visits and that has been reflected in his competitiveness today. We are now all looking forward to the rest of the weekend and seeing what Sunday will bring.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Capirossi takes focus away from Rossi-Hayden battle Gran Premio bwin.com de la Comunitat Valenciana – Friday 27th October Loris Capirossi interview after his fast lap 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.