Texan Colin Edwards was quickest on the draw on Friday in Malaysia

Tech 3 Yamaha´s Colin Edwards laid down his cards early in Sepang, recording the fastest Friday time in practice for the Polini Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix. The American had to wait until the dying moments of the day´s two hours of practice in order to set his 2´02.667 lap, doing so in a second session that had been slightly slower than the morning run until the final quarter.

Edwards´ 2´02.693 lap relegated Yamaha factory rider Valentino Rossi to second place on the combined timesheet, although the Italian was unable to cut his time in the afternoon. Nonetheless, the 2008 World Champion was under three-hundredths of a second slower than his former teammate´s marker overall, and placed second in the ultimate session.

Third fastest and the only other rider to breach the 2´03 barrier, 2007 Sepang racewinner Casey Stoner was three-tenths down on Edwards´ fastest lap, once again riding with a speed that belied his less-than-perfect condition.

Shinya Nakano was the first man to better his morning time, and was sitting pretty in the Free Practice 2 standings until his rivals´ late surge. The San Carlo Honda Gresini rider –still without a ride confirmed for 2009- eventually placed fourth.

Like Fiat Yamaha teammate Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo was unable to best his early lap time, and concluded the day just over half a second slower than satellite rider Edwards. Dani Pedrosa made significant improvements to move up into sixth onboard his Repsol Honda RC212V, whilst Loris Capirossi, Pedrosa´s future teammate Andrea Dovizioso, LCR Honda man Randy de Puniet and 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden also placed in the top ten.

Valentino Rossi´s late 2´02.693 lap allowed him to draw first blood in Malaysia.

2008 MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi left things until the death in Malaysia to head the Free Practice 1 timesheet, the only man to breach the 2´03 barrier in a session delayed by five minutes after events in the 125cc outing. The Fiat Yamaha rider was the standout of the initial practice run as he set his fearsome final lap of the morning, which took place under customarily humid and –for the moment at least-dry conditions.

Jorge Lorenzo proved to be equally adept at tackling the Sepang circuit onboard an 800cc machine on Friday morning, recording as he did a 2´03.179 lap in the final two minutes of the session to trail his teammate by just under half a second. 2007 racewinner Casey Stoner was just shy of clocking a time two-thousandths of a second slower than that of Lorenzo, although Rossi´s 2´02.693 lap has well and truly laid down the gauntlet for his two early rivals.

Colin Edwards added to the Yamaha presence in the upper echelon of the early timesheet with the fourth quickest lap of the practice session, ahead of Randy de Puniet.

Nicky Hayden, Loris Capirossi, Shinya Nakano, Andrea Dovizioso and James Toseland also made their presence felt in the top ten.

Combined Free Practice Times

Rider / Team / MOTORCYCLE / FP1 / FP2
1 C.EDWARDS Tech 3 Yamaha YAMAHA 2'03.439 2'02.667
2 V.ROSSI Fiat Yamaha TeamYAMAHA 2'02.693 2'02.838
3 C.STONER Ducati Marlboro DUCATI 2'03.195 2'02.970
4 S.NAKANO Honda Gresini HONDA 2'03.785 2'03.050
5 J.LORENZO Fiat Yamaha TeamYAMAHA 2'03.179 2'03.598
6 D.PEDROSA Repsol Honda TeamHONDA 2'04.460 2'03.232
7 L.CAPIROSSIRizla Suzuki MotoGPSUZUKI 2'03.735 2'03.346
8 A.DOVIZIOSOJiR Team Scot HONDA 2'03.839 2'03.430
9 R.DE PUNIETLCR Honda HONDA 2'03.535 2'03.474
10 N.HAYDEN Repsol Honda TeamHONDA 2'03.649 2'03.550