Stoner heads Brno test

The MotoGP circus has just completed a crucial mid-season two-day track test at Brno, which if anything has highlighted the dominance of the Casey Stoner-led charge from Ducati.

According to the factory: Stoner (pictured) lapped consistently at a very good pace, then bettered his own fastest race lap and broke the lap record which had been unbeaten on Sunday. Capirossi, among other things, tested two new Bridgestone 16-inch rears that he found promising but in need of further development.

Casey Stoner:
"I'm pretty happy. Today we made a further step forward on bike set-up, similar to what we did in the post-race tests at Catalunya. I'm also happy with the new fairing because conditions were a bit windy this afternoon but I could still lap fast at a very good rhythm. I think these two days have been really positive for us".

Meanwhile it seems Yamaha had a mixed time, with Edwards saying he was pleased with new starting maps on his machine, but a luke-warm response from Rossi.

Valentino Rossi:
"We continued today to test many tyres with Michelin, different components and different compounds. We haven't found a miracle tyre yet but we gave a lot of information to Michelin which will hopefully help them in their work for the next races. We used the new engine again for some of the day and found it a little bit better, although we need more time to work on it. Anyway we've given some important information to our engineers so they can continue with the development for the future. We've done a lot of work these two days and I know that Yamaha and Michelin will now do as much as possible with what we've found out here, and we will be ready to try again next week in Misano."

The Suzuki duo of John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen were far more up beat. Team Manager Paul Denning said, "After the excitement of Sunday it was straight back to work for the riders and the rest of the team. The whole test has been very encouraging and we have certainly got a clear indication of the direction to take for the rest of the season. It was great to have Nobu present as he was able to give us another viewpoint on the different items we were testing. We will now look at these results and come back even stronger over the rest of the year. We have shown that the bike and riders are very much in-form at the moment and we are determined to stay that way and make further steps up in the remaining races!"

The next race is San Marino on September 1.

Times, day two:
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'57.92
2. John Hopkins (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'58.40
3. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team 1'58.49
4. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team 1'58.70
5. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'58.74
6. Alex Barros (BRA) Pramac d'Antin 1'58.84
7. Colin Edwards (USA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'58.86
8. Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda LCR 1'59.13
9. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'59.23
10. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki 1'59.28
11. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'59.35
12. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'59.62
13. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 2'0.80
14. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 2'1.92

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