FP3: Stoner the number one at home, Phillip Island

A new session at Phillip Island, a new first position for Stoner. It is clear that the Australian has the measure of his circuit and never gives any respite; he fights for every thousandth. Stoner is a rider who is not satisfied with simply being in front; he always wants to give everything, and so he has set a time of 1:30.550, after twenty-one laps.

With this time he is 640 thousandths ahead of Lorenzo, second, and almost a second ahead of his teammate Dani Pedrosa, who is third.

It seems that on this occasion Dani is not entirely comfortable in Australia, but we will see what he is capable of in qualifying, because Pedrosa has accustomed us to great surprises.

Ben Spies, Jorge’s teammate, has improved. They thought they knew which direction they had to work in, and it looks like they were right, and they have managed to get close to the front.

At the Ducati factory team, Hayden is in charge; apparently he is running the aluminium chassis, like Rossi, but the American is ninth, while Rossi could only finish twelfth. When we saw Vale in the images, we could tell that his bike moves a lot, but on the other hand I think Nicky is gaining ground in the team, and I think they should put a bit more effort into him.

It is true that Valentino is much more eye-catching as a rider, for what he has achieved and for his talent, but the one getting results in the races is Hayden, and I think they should give him more prominence in the bike’s development.

As for the satellite Ducatis, De Puniet is the best of the Italian bikes with his seventh place, his teammate Capirossi was thirteenth and Abraham fifteenth.

Toni Elías finished in sixteenth position, 2.856 seconds behind Casey, and has grip problems at the rear, as always. He only finished ahead of Cudlin, who suffered a serious crash and is apparently quite sore.

The missing Spanish rider, Alvaro Bautista, was eighth. He is getting closer and closer to the front; this year they are taking very good steps towards the front in every race.