These, just in:

STONER A STEP AHEAD ON DAY ONE IN VALENCIA, HAYDEN TENTH

Casey Stoner set the pace on the opening day of the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana, lapping almost four tenths quicker than his closest rival Jorge Lorenzo. With cool track temperatures of just 17ºC the onus for the riders was on finding grip around the short but technically demanding circuit and despite starting out with a setting he wasn't comfortable with Stoner worked hard with his mechanics to find a solution by the end of the hour-long free practice.

Nicky Hayden also worked tirelessly throughout the session, suffering from similar difficulties to Stoner but without managing to find the key breakthrough. The American also cited a dirty track surface for slower track times than usual, with Stoner the only rider able to break the 1'33 mark today.

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team)  (1st; 1'32.813)
"We didn't start out with a very effective base setting and I didn't have a good feeling for the first few laps. Basically we didn't have enough weight on the front and because of the track conditions it was difficult to get heat into the tyre, especially on the right side because there aren't many right turns here. We knew what we needed to from the bike so I kept coming in and making small adjustments until we found it. It's quite good, we still need to improve a lot but I'm really pleased with the job we did today and if we can make the improvements we have planned for tomorrow then we'll be in a very good situation."

NICKY HAYDEN - (Ducati Marlboro Team)  (10th; 1'34.462)
"It was a tough session and I had certainly hoped to be a lot closer to the pace than that today. It's a track I really like and we know the bike works well here so the team and I have a lot of work to do. Track temperatures were quite low and I had a really hard time getting the tyres working on the front and rear. It's also quite windy so I'm not sure if maybe a lot of sand and dirt has blown onto the track but it's definitely tricky to find grip out there. That's our target for tomorrow anyway."
Circuit Record: Casey Stoner (Ducati - 2008), 1'32.582 - 155.732 Km/h

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Lorenzo and Rossi begin season finale in second and fourth whilst Spies enjoys first Wildcard session

The final Grand Prix weekend of the season got underway at Valencia in Spain today in bright sunshine, with Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi finishing the first day of practice in second and fourth respectively. The Fiat Yamaha pairing have little left to achieve this weekend but both are determined to close the season on a high note, with Lorenzo especially looking to confirm second place in the championship.

It was the young Mallorcan Lorenzo who spent the most time at the top of the time sheets today as he quickly found a comfortable setting for his M1 around the twisty 4.005 km circuit, one of only three circuits on the calendar where he has never won. In the last five minutes he was edged into second by Casey Stoner, but he continued to improve his time right up to the flag, ending up 0.382 seconds off the Australian. Rossi made a similarly strong start, spending the session working through some different setting solutions and making a steady improvement throughout. The Italian, who won his ninth world championship last time out in Sepang, finished the day just behind Dani Pedrosa in fourth place.

Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 2ndTime: 1'33.195Laps: 32
"This is one of the few places I haven't won in my career so I really want to try! Today was very good, I did many laps with a strong rhythm and with a consistent and fast pace. We are feeling strong and we hope we can continue to be competitive. Tonight we will look at the data from today and consider how we can make more improvements for tomorrow so that I can try to be on the front row once again."

Valentino Rossi - Position: 4thTime: 1'33.499Laps: 30

"It's really nice to be riding as the world champion without having to think about points and now I just want to finish the year with a good race. Today was not so bad, I'm not happy with fourth but we're not far off and we worked well on the bike. We had some different settings to work on to try to improve our performance at this track and then at the end I was able to do some good laps all together. Tomorrow we have quite a lot of work to do, we need to try the harder Bridgestone tyre and try to make another step with the setting, but so far we have done a good job."

Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager
"This was a very good start for us, as we've made at most races this season. We used the same Bridgestone tyre for the whole session and we had a good pace today, but we need to keep improving because we know that the eventual race pace will be faster than today's. We've already got a lot of data and some additional rider requests, so we will work on those tomorrow."

Davide Brivio - Team Manager
"In preparation for this session we had planned some different setting solutions to work through and so we spent the hour checking them carefully. Now we will compare the data we've gathered and use this going forward to tomorrow. Valentino already has a good pace and felt comfortable on the bike today so we are confident of being in good shape for the weekend."

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Edwards and Toseland set competitive times in Valencia

The final round of the 2009 MotoGP world championship kicked off in cloudy and windy conditions at Valencia this afternoon, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team duo Colin Edwards and James Toseland posting the seventh and 13th best times respectively.

Still firmly in contention for fifth place in the overall points standings going into Sunday's final race, Edwards worked on two different settings in cool temperatures this afternoon and found his second YZR-M1 machine a stronger package at the Ricardo Tormo circuit.

Experimenting with a different geometry setting, Edwards was able to post a best time 1.34.123 as changes gave him improved front-end handling performance from his YZR-M1 ma chine.

British rider James Toseland is confident of big improvements as he started his final appearance for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad with the 13th quickest time.
Quickly reacquainting himself with the YZR-M1 800cc machine after a successful debut on Yamaha's R1 World Superbike machine in Portimao recently, Toseland overcame a front tyre vibration issue and strong winds to clock a best time of 1.34.865.

Colin Edwards - Position: 7thTime: 1'34.123 Laps: 27

"It felt like hard work out there today. This is a physical track and maybe it's just because I'm getting older but the times didn't come easy at the start. But at the end I felt pretty good. We started with two bikes and the first one I went out on I thought it was really good. The second bike was set-up based on comments I gave my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 and Yamaha in Malaysia and it had different geometry settings. And it really helped the bike turn a lot better. One thing I've been missing a lot this year is the bike turning well. Once I get it leaned over and into the corner, my feeling was the bike was always running straight on for a while. But now when I get into the corner I continue turning instead of going wide. Fifth place in the world championship is still up for grabs on Sunday and while it is a tall order, I'll be giving it my all for Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Those four guys at the front are in a different league and I need (Andrea) Dovizioso to have a bad weekend, but I won't be holding back."

James Toseland - Position: 13thTime: 1'34.865Laps: 27

"I needed some time to adapt myself back to the bike having done over 200 laps on the R1 in Portimao last week. I felt quite strong in the early part of the session. But when I wanted to start picking up the pace and going for some decent lap times I had a problem with the front tyre. There was a bit of a vibration issue and with the changes I lost time. The wind made it quite tricky as well today. In some faster sections of the track it was blowing me slightly off line. We gained some good information though and with ideas that we have to improve for tomorrow I'm convinced I can make progress up the timesheets. It is my last race for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team and I'm determined to finish with a strong result."

Spies completes first MotoGP free practice in Valencia

Wildcard Sterilgarda Yamaha rider Ben Spies got stuck into the first free practice session of the weekend at the Valencia MotoGP today. Despite being Spies' first outing on the Yamaha YZR-M1, the American made good progress, improving by nearly five seconds over the course of the session and finishing just over a second off the top five in 15th position. Spies made few changes to his M1, preferring to get as much track time in as possible as he begins to understand the different handling and power characteristics compared to his championship winning Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike.

Tomorrow morning will see Spies looking to bring the set up of his bike further in line with his style of riding ahead of his first GP qualifying session on a Yamaha.

Ben Spies, Sterilgarda Yamaha Team - Position: 15thTime: 1'35.052

"It was actually a really good first session. Position wise it wasn't what we are used to but I haven't ridden a GP bike for a year and it's the first time I've set foot on a Yamaha so to be realistically only a second off being in the mix is pretty good. For the first day, and only 20 laps on the bike I'm happy. I'm starting to understand some of the characteristics of the M1. I'm going to keep baby steps and keep chipping away."

Massimo Meregalli - Sterilgarda Yamaha Team Manager

"For the first day here in this world with no experience on this bike or with these tires Ben did as usual a good job, but we didn't expect anything else. For sure just one practice is not enough time to say too much but we cannot say that we are not satisfied. Ben didn't want to use more than one set of tyres, he just wanted to spend some time on his bike and get used to the differences from his superbike. Tomorrow he will make another step, I'm very optimistic as I was all season with him."

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MotoGP Practice Report

REPSOL HONDA TEAM OFF AND RUNNING AT VALENCIA

The Repsol Honda Team made a solid start during the first practice session for the Grand Prix of Valencia today, as the MotoGP field began preparations for the final race of the season. Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso finished in third and eighth positions in the hour-long session at the 4.005km (2.489-mile) track - a venue characterized by second- and third-gear corners overlooked by vast grandstands. Come Sunday, this impressive arena will be packed solid with upwards of 120,000 passionate Spanish fans.

Pedrosa, who loves this track and enjoys huge support here, immediately revealed his intentions by going to the top of the timesheets after fifteen minutes, and staying there for the first half of the session. At the end of the hour-long practice period, which was affected by strong winds buffeting the riders, Pedrosa was in third place, and tomorrow the 24-year-old Spaniard will be looking to close the gap to Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo in front of him. Pedrosa is the only rider to have won in all three classes at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, and he would dearly love to sign off the 2009 season with another win here.

Dovizioso spent the hour honing suspension settings and tuning his RC212V to the tight and twisty nature of this circuit. He too was affected by the wind and found it especially intrusive when the front wheel lifts under power while exiting the many slow-speed corners at Valencia. With a good idea for the direction he and the team will now take, Dovizioso is confident he can climb the timesheets in tomorrow's two sessions: a further hour of practice in the morning, and the afternoon's qualifying period to decide grid-slots for Sunday's 30-lap race.
 
DANI PEDROSA - 3rd - 1m 33.241s 

"For a first practice session, this was OK today and we completed some valuable laps to famliarise ourselves with this circuit again. It was really windy out there and this affected the machine more in some corners than others - like in the third sector where it was quite difficult to control the bike. Still, we have time to solve this tomorrow. Also, it's good that we got used to the windy conditions because it looks like we'll have them for the whole weekend. The track surface was not totally clean, but actually the grip was good and the Bridgestone tyres were working well. There's a gap to the riders in front and we need to make some improvements for tomorrow so that we've got the best chance of qualifying well. I really want to win this race - it's more important to me than finishing third in the championship - so we need to work really hard to give us a good chance on Sunday."
 
ANDREA DOVIZIOSO - 8th - 1m 34.382s 

"We got through quite a lot of work this afternoon, focusing mainly on some options for suspension set-up. We didn't have the time to test all the ideas we have for this circuit, so tomorrow we will continue working. I'm confident we can improve and move forward because eighth is not where I want to be. The track conditions today were not too bad, but the strong wind made controlling the bike more difficult, and this took some getting used to. Here the bike usually tends to wheelie because there are a lot of slow corners, and the strong wind accentuated this issue. The characteristics of this circuit mean that it takes a while to get into a good rhythm, and so we did more laps on each run out of the pits - around 10-13 laps each time, which is more than we do at other circuits. Tomorrow we'll focus on getting a good qualifying position to give us the best chance on Sunday."

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06/11/2009 16:40pm

Capirossi ninth on final Friday

Rizla Suzuki's Loris Capirossi finished the final Friday practice of the 2009 MotoGP season in ninth position at Valencia in Spain today.

Capirossi (1'34.427, 28 laps) suffered with some set-up issues in the hour-long session causing him some vibration on his Suzuki GSV-R. Loris and his crew didn't have time to resolve the matter completely and will now look at the data overnight to see where the changes can be made to improve further.

Chris Vermeulen (P16, 1'35.131, 26 laps) has been suffering with a heavy cold since arriving in Valencia and it didn't help him today as he found himself sneezing and coughing inside his helmet as he rode his machine around the 4,005m Spanish circuit. If he can shake off his sickness, Vermeulen will undoubtedly be higher up the leader-board as the weekend progresses.

With a cool wind blowing over the track today the surface temperature only got up to 17ºC, despite pleasant overhead autumnal sunshine. Ducati's Casey Stoner set the fastest time of the day.

Capirossi and Vermeulen have one more free practice session tomorrow morning, before the qualifying session to determine grid positions for Sunday's event takes place in the afternoon. The final race of the 2009 season gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (13.00hrs GMT) On Sunday 8th November.

Loris Capirossi:

"We had a bit of vibration from the bike today and with only an hour of practice we struggled to find enough time to get the best solution to fix it. We did a couple of setting changes to try and improve it and in the end we found a good situation, but it is still not perfect. We have to look at the data to find out what is causing the vibration and try to improve things for tomorrow. I am sure if we can get things right we can be very fast here and have a good end to the season!"

Chris Vermeulen:

"It's been quite cold here in Valencia today and at start of the session I found it quite difficult to get heat into the tyres, which meant I couldn't get them working as well as I would have liked. After we overcame that the bike worked quite well and I started to make my way up the timesheets. We made a lot of progress throughout the session even though we came across a couple of issues that made me to lose a bit of track time and possibly caused me to miss out on the period in the session where I could have got my best lap-time. I think we'll be able to get things spot-on for tomorrow and go a lot quicker than we did today. I've not been feeling too good this week, but hopefully all's well that ends well and I can get over it quickly and be back on the pace in time for the race."

Paul Denning - Team Manager:

"Loris was very quick in the dry in Sepang last time out and the base geometry we found there hasn't transferred quite as well to the colder conditions in Valencia this afternoon. The gap to the front group is not too bad and if we can improve the feedback and feeling from the front of the bike for Loris then the lap-time will come much easier.

"The main thing for Chris seems to be to get him over the cold he is suffering from - it must be difficult to hit the apexes when you are coughing so hard your eyes are closing! There weren't so many changes to Chris's bike during the course of the session and the balance doesn't look too bad, so if his condition improves tomorrow than I think we can anticipate a big step forward. Both the guys also only used one set of tyres for the whole session, whereas some of the other riders changed to the harder rear in the latter stages and found some lap-time. Overall we are hoping for better things on Saturday and a good end to the 2009 season."

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GP de la Comunitat Valenciana, Ricardo Tormo Circuit, 6th November 2009 - Free Practice

SAN CARLO HONDA GRESINI RIDERS LOOKING FOR GRIP AT COOL VALENCIA

San Carlo Honda Gresini pair Alex de Angelis and Toni Elias took to the track for the final Grand Prix of the season as free practice got underway at Valencia this afternoon. Pleasant autumn sunshine welcomed the weekend's first fans to the circuit but it did little to raise track temperatures any higher than 17ºC, making the main focus for both riders on finding rear grip around the short and twisty circuit.

Elias found the conditions particularly challenging, having struggled for rear grip at a variety of circuits throughout the season, and could only manage the fourteenth fastest time, although De Angelis fared better and was an impressive sixth.  

Alex De Angelis (6th; 1'34.106): "We've got a slight problem finding grip for the rear, in particular on the right side of the tyre, but I think that's the same for everybody and it is to be expected on the first day here at Valencia. We've also got a little chatter on the front end that we need to solve but in general terms it's a case of making small improvements in three or four areas and we'll be on the pace. I'm happy though because we have made a positive start to the weekend."

Toni Elias (14th 1'34.873): "This is one of the most difficult circuits to find grip at and like in a lot of races this season we have struggled to find it in the first hour of the weekend. We're struggling for stability on the way into the corners and traction on the way out and the cooler temperatures certainly aren't helping - especially in the right-handers. We'll have a look at the data tonight, make some changes to the bike and I'm sure we'll be more competitive tomorrow."

Fausto Gresini - Team Manager: "Alex has done a good lap time and I'm happy with his performance today. He still has a couple of problems to solve, especially with rear grip in the right-handers, but I'm sure the track conditions will improve as the weekend progresses and no doubt his set-up will too. Toni has a similar problem but is a little further back so we need to work hard with him because this is an important race for him."

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