Stoner sets the pace

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Casey Stoner was the top man at the end of the first practice session for this weekend's season-opening FIM MotoGP World Championship race in Qatar.
The Marlboro Ducati rider set the pace under the floodlights of the Losail International Circuit with a best time of one minute 55.500 seconds.
The Australian has dominated at this track in recent years and is seeking his fourth consecutive victory in Qatar on Sunday.

The 2007 world champion underlined the pre-season pace of the new Desmosedici GP10 with a dominant performance which saw him finish over half a second clear of nearest challenger Jorge Lorenzo.
Stoner's performance was all the more impressive as he completed the fewest number of laps - 17 - of any rider.
But Lorenzo's ride to second place was equally eye-catching, with the Spaniard coming into the opening race of 2010 with a serious lack of practice mileage under his belt after suffering a hand injury in pre-season training.
The Fiat Yamaha rider showed no ill-effects from his disrupted winter program as he posted a best time of 1:56.026 to just miss out on joining Stoner as the only riders to dip into the 1min 55s.
Lorenzo suffered a fall late in the session but no harm was done.
Lorenzo's team-mate and reigning world champion Valentino Rossi settled for third place, just two-thousandths off the second-placed man.
Rossi is hunting his 10th championship in all classes this season but is looking for his first win under the floodlights of the Losail circuit on Sunday.
Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) took fourth while Stoner's team-mate Nicky Hayden was fifth ahead of Ben Spies (Tech3 Yamaha), who is embarking on his rookie season.
Another new boy in Alvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) was seventh, while Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda), Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) and Hector Barbera (Paginas Amarillas Aspar) completed the top 10.


Photograph Copyright : Getty Images