Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa led Friday’s first and only MotoGP session of the Motorland Aragon Grand Prix weekend, while the second session was delayed for two hours and finally canceled by a power outage.Pedrosa holds the fastest race lap of 1:49.521 mins., which he couldn’t match in morning practice at the circuit near Alcaniz, Spain. This morning his fastest lap was 1:50.281 mins., which put him in a league by himself. The next fastest rider was fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) at 1:50.730 mins., a gap of .449 sec. World championship leader Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda), who won last year’s inaugural race at Motorland Aragon, was only .076 sec. behind Lorenzo.The afternoon session was first delayed indefinitely by a power outage. Part of the circuit, including the press room and timing and scoring, was left without power after the second 125cc session, while the riders sat around in their leathers with their motorcycles on stands. Eventually the riders changed into their street clothes while the problem was traced to a blown generator.
According to a local report, replacement equipment was trucked in from Zaragoza, about 60 miles away, but the problem wasn’t sufficiently resolved. The session, originally to run from 2:10-2:45 pm local time, was rescheduled for 4:20-5:05 local before finally being canceled just prior to the scheduled re-start. The second Moto2 session was also canceled. Part of the time will be made up in tomorrow morning’s MotoGP and Moto2 sessions, with 30 minutes added to each. The sessions will now be 75 minutes long, with MotoGP morning practice from 9:35-10:50 a.m. local time and Moto2 from 11:00-12:15 p.m.Fourth in the morning was Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini), who was less than a tenth slower than Stoner and the fourth of five Hondas in the top five. Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso was fifth fastest.Ducatis came next, though not in the expected order after the revelation that Valentino Rossi (Ducati Marlboro) had new chassis parts. Tops was Pramac Racing Team’s Randy de Puniet, though by only .042 sec. over Ducati Marlboro’s Nicky Hayden. Hayden was on the all-carbon GP11.1, while teammate Rossi finished .258 sec. behind on a GP11.1 with aluminum parts replacing some of the carbon fiber pieces. The GP11.1 doesn’t have a traditional chassis. Instead it uses the engine as a stressed member with a sub-frame at the front of the engine connecting the steering head and front end, while the rear sub-section includes the swingarm and rear suspension.Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards was ninth fastest and Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) tenth.Yamaha’s Ben Spies was down in 11th and 1.630 secs. behind Pedrosa.MotoGP Practice:1. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1:50.281
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1:50.730
3. Casey Stoner (Honda) 1:50.806
4. Marco Simoncelli (Honda) 1:50.893
5. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 1:51.091
6. Randy de Puniet (Ducati) 1:51.376
7. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 1:51.418
8. Valentino Rossi (Ducati) 1:51.676
9. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1:51.826
10. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda) 1:51.859
11. Ben Spies (Yamaha) 1:51.911
