Australian Casey Stoner has made an impressive start at his home MotoGP at Phillip Island, setting the third fastest time in opening practice, with fellow Australian Chris Vermeulen 15th. Loris Capirossi is the quickest of the Italians so far, with Marco Melandri in 4th and Valentino Rossi with the 8th fastest time.

Stoner clocked a time of one minute 30.768 seconds, with only Italian Loris Capirossi (1:30.653) and Spaniard Sete Gibernau (1:30.693) posting faster times in the first session.

Capirossi currently sits 43 points behind leader Nicky Hayden in the championship and must win at Phillip Island to keep his title hopes alive, something he is confident of achieving.

"The points gap is still big but the bike and the tyres are good and I am feeling strong, so it's not impossible to win the championship," Capirossi told AFP.

Hayden posted the ninth best time, just behind reigning world champion Valentino Rossi, who said he enjoyed racing around the island circuit.

"I always look forward to this race a lot and especially now when my MI (bike) is working so well," Rossi said.

"Phillip Island is a magic track for me. I've won a lot of races there and some championships too."

Rossi's victory in last week's Malaysian MotoGP puts him just 26 points behind Hayden in the title race with four races left.

Hayden's biggest threat for the title, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, could only manage 17th while another Australian, Chris Vermeulen, finished 15th.

1 Loris Capirossi 1:30.653
2 Sete Gibernau 1:30.693
3 Casey Stoner 1:30.768
4 Marco Melandri 1:30.863
5 Randy De Puniet 1:30.949
6 Shinya Nakano 1:30.952
7 Kenny Roberts 1:31.077
8 Valentino Rossi 1:31.143
9 Nicky Hayden 1:31.460
10 John Hopkins 1:31.496
15 Chris Vermeulen 1:32.130

(sportal)