The good news during the first MotoGP practice at Motegi saw four riders separted by only several tenths of second with Valentino Rossi taking the top of the time charts with a final lap lunge in the dying moments of the session.

The bad news is that Dani Pedrosa, who was the only rider points wise that was contesting the championship title against Jorge Lorenzo crashed hard in the opening minutes of the session at turn 9 and suffered a 3 fragment fracture to his left collarbone, that will effectively put him out of the running for this weekend. Pedrosa, with all probability will also miss the Sepang and Phillip Island GP’s as he’ll have to undergo surgery. With Honda Repsol rider no longer able to contest, this makes Jorge Lorenzo, at least mathematically this year’s world champion.

The Doctor who was afraid that all the right braking at Motegi would cause him more pain to his weakened shoulder put in 27 laps and with a best lap of 1.48″174 on his final run was was enough to keep him in front of second place Andrea Dovizioso.

Jorge Lorenzo took third and was just three tenths from his team mate and a mere 0.007s in front of Casey Stoner, in the fourth spot.

Ben Spies has learned the Japanese track fast and despite a fall took fifth ahead of Hiroshi Aoyama who is feeling his home race finished in sixth, both riders were more than one second from Rossi’s best time.

Behind Aoyama were Colin Edwards, Hector Barbera, Loris Capirossi and Marco Simoncelli closed out the top ten. Nicky Hayden also crashed and managed to finish 13th.

MotoGP Motegi 1st Free Practice Results:

01- Valentino Rossi – Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – 1′48.174
02- Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.213
03- Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.300
04- Casey Stoner – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 0.307
05- Ben Spies – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.128
06- Hiroshi Aoyama – Interwetten Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 1.183
07- Colin Edwards – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.203
08- Hector Barbera – Paginas Amarillas Aspar – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 1.370
09- Loris Capirossi – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 1.394
10- Marco Simoncelli – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 1.407
11- Marco Melandri – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 1.446
12- Alvaro Bautista – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 1.470
13- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 1.708
14- Randy De Puniet – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 1.783
15- Aleix Espargaro – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 1.984
16- Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 2.931
17- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 11.957

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