If we were to base the upcoming 2011 season on the results of this three day test at Sepang 2, we could close up the championship right now, with either Casey Stoner or Dani Pedrosa walking away with the title and Honda grabbing the manufacturers title.
However we don’t have a crystal ball and predictions aren’t are strong forte and racing isn’t an exact science, we’ll just tell you that Casey Stoner took just two laps this morning to blow to smithereens the two minute barrier at Sepang.
The Aussie was on a roll, not only did he dip under this mark with a stunning lap of 1.
59.
665, but actually sawed off a massive 0.
636s from his yesterday’s best time!Even team mate Dani Pedrosa went under the two minute mark, finishing the day just 0.
138s behind his Honda Repsol in-house rival, with Marco Simoncelli and Andrea Dovizioso wrapping up in third and fourth, as if we actually needed further proof that Honda has definitely got it right in this final year of racing with the 800cc class.
After the Honda hegemony came Yamaha’s Ben Spies with his fifth spot and a 1.
013 second gap from Stoner.
Colin Edwards took sixth, followed by reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo in seventh, more than 1.
338 from the top of the time chart and three tenths from his new team mate.
Alvaro Bautista seemingly feeling better after his yesterday’s bout of sickness was eighth, despite a crash was followed by Hiroshi Aoyama, riding one of the other two really private RC212V’s.
If the Yamaha’s seemed to be losing a lifetime to the Honda machines, the Ducati’s were on an eternity trip.
The fastest Ducatista was Hector Barbera who closed out the top ten.
Valentino Rossi who missed yesterday’s testing due to the flu, finished in 11th trying to do his best to make up for lost day by putting in 59 laps in the massive heat of Sepang, posting the identical lap time with team mate Nicky Hayden, who probably ended up 2 to 4 pounds lighter after his 71 laps.
Other struggling Ducati riders were Loris Capirossi in 13th, Randy de Puniet 15th and rookie Karel Abraham in 18th.
The final pre-season testing before the opening round will be at the Losail track (if the country doesn’t experience the same social unrest that Bahrain is undergoing) March 13th and 14th.
MotoGP Sepang 2 Day 3 Results:1 Casey Stoner Repsol Honda 1′59.
6652 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda 1′59.
8033 Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 2′00.
1634 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda 2′00.
5415 Ben Spies Factory Yamaha 2′00.
6786 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha 2′00.
9667 Jorge Lorenzo Factory Yamaha 2′01.
0038 Alvaro Bautista Rizla Suzuki 2′01.
1949 Hiro Aoyama Gresini Honda 2′01.
32810 Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 2′01.
34611 Valentino Rossi Marlboro Ducati 2′01.
46912 Nicky Hayden Marlboro Ducati 2′01.
46913 Loris Capirossi Pramac Ducati 2′01.
49314 Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha 2′02.
03415 Randy De Puniet Pramac Ducati 2′02.
15516 Toni Elias LCR Honda 2′02.
41017 Karel Abraham AB Cardion Ducati 2′02.
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