World Championship leader Casey Stoner posted a record
breaking lap at Brno on the second day of testing. Stoner was
again riding with Ducati's new fairing, first seen on Monday, but
lowered his race pace by a further 0.326secs to break both the
new 800cc and olds 990cc official lap records. The 21-year-old's
nearest rival was again Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins, second to
Stoner in the grand prix, who lapped 0.476secs slower than his
fellow Bridgestone rider on Tuesday. "I'm pretty happy," admitted
Casey, now 60 points clear of Valentino Rossi with six rounds
remaining. "Today we made a further step forward on bike set-
up, similar to what we did in the post-race tests at Catalunya. I'm
also happy with the new fairing because conditions were a bit
windy this afternoon but I could still lap fast at a very good
rhythm. I think these two days have been really positive for us."
By contrast, Rossi was only eleventh fastest on day two, 1.4secs
slower than Stoner, while the second factory Ducati of Loris
Capirossi was one place behind on the day two timesheets.
"Today we did a few laps [22], focusing on tyre tests and set-up
tests," stated the Italian, desperate for at least one victory from
his final six rides on a Ducati. "We also tried two Bridgestone 16
rears which aren't bad but need more work in order to be well
balanced with the front, in order to be as competitive as the 16.5-
inch rear. It has nevertheless been a positive day and now I look
forward to racing at Misano next week." uk.eurosport.yahoo.com