Australia MotoGP: Valentino Rossi tops opening practice

Valentino Rossi fired an early and ominous warning to MotoGP title rival Jorge Lorenzo after the Italian dominated today’s opening practice session at Phillip Island.

Desperate to bounce back from his disappointing fourth place in Estoril earlier this month, Rossi’s bid for a sixth Australian MotoGP victory started in impressive fashion.

The 30-year-old, who holds an 18-point lead over Fiat Yamaha team-mate going into Sunday’s crunch Australia GP, clocked a best time of 1.31.032 to head the field in sunny but cool and windy conditions.

In contrast to Rossi’s excellent start, Lorenzo was having a much tougher time on the opposite side of the Fiat Yamaha dividing wall, the Spaniard only managing to finish sixth quickest.

Lorenzo struggled throughout the session to get close to the pace of Rossi and he missed the final few minutes having crashed out at Turn Four with just over five minutes remaining.

The Spaniard lost the front-end of his Yamaha YZR-M1 but walked away unhurt in the slow speed spill, though a best time of 1.32.077 left him a massive 1.045s adrift of title rival Rossi.

Rossi topped the timesheets despite the best efforts of home favourite Casey Stoner to deny him with a late attack.

Stoner, who is celebrating his 24th birthday today, had dominated the opening exchanges and after only four laps he was over a second clear of the field.

But he had to settle for second best in front of a large but windswept home crowd with a best lap of 1.31.167 leaving him just 0.135s behind Rossi.

Spaniard Dani Pedrosa took third spot on the Repsol Honda RC212V with a best time of 1.31.528, which just edged out an impressive display from unemployed San Marino rider Alex de Angelis.786.

The Gresini Honda rider clocked a best time of 1.31.786 to finish just 0.060s clear of Texan Colin Edwards on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1.

Edwards moved into fifth spot with just over a minute remaining while British team-mate James Toseland was a hugely encouraging seventh fastest.

The 28-year-old, who has lost his Tech 3 ride to Ben Spies for 2010, consistently lapped in the top six in the opening half of the session. And he didn’t let a small crash at Turn Ten distract him shortly after the halfway stage.

Toseland ended with a best time of 1.32.255 to finish just 0.178s off Lorenzo. It was an expensive day for the Pramac Ducati squad with Mika Kallio tumbling at slow speed at Turn Four.

Italian team-mate Niccolo Canepa though had a much faster and more expensive smash when he crashed at high speed at Doohan Corner.

His GP9 machine was severely damaged and Canepa needed lengthy treatment in the circuit medical centre for a right arm injury.