Rossi tops first practice

Valentino Rossi has topped the first practice session for the Assen round of the MotoGP world championship.

Rossi dominated the dry session, beating Sete Gibernau to the fastest time by 0.7 seconds.

Ducati rider Loris Capirossi came in with the third fastest time, just two hundredths of a second behind Gibernau.

Factory Honda rider Nicky Hayden came in fourth quickest, just ahead of Gibernau’s team-mate and second man in the championship, Marco Melandri.

Colin Edwards took sixth on the Yamaha followed by the Kawasaki of Alex Hofmann and the second Ducati rider Carlos Checa.

Valentino Rossi now holds the lap record for the circuit because the track has changed from last year so no record stood.

We’ll be bringing you full reports from all the weekend’s racing action with MotoGP qualifying on Friday afternoon at 1pm and the race on Saturday at 1pm.

And don’t forget to check out the June 29 edition of MCN for all the behind the scenes news that you won’t get from the TV.

MotoGP first practice times:

Valentino Rossi, 2:01.003

Sete Gibernau, 2:01.736

Loris Capirossi, 2:01.758

Nicky Hayden, 2:01.946

Marco Melandri, 2:02.077

Colin Edwards, 2:02.117

Alex Hofmann, 2:02.409

Carlos Checa, 2:02.449

Alex Barros, 2:02.628

Shinya Nakano, 2:02.862

Ruben Xaus, 2:02.986

Max Biaggi, 2:03.015

John Hopkins, 2:03.116

Troy Bayliss, 2:03.360

Kenny Roberts, 2:04.297

Makoto Tamada, 2:04.766

David Checa, 2:05.055

Roberto Rolfo, 2:06.437

Shane Byrne, 2:07.188

Franco Battaini, 2:08.079

James Ellison, 2:08.756