Motorcycling: Pedrosa and Stoner lead way in Spain

The 25-year-old broke his collarbone after a fall in the French Grand Prix last month (AP)

The Repsol Hondas of Casey Stoner and home favourite Dani Pedrosa led the way in opening practice for this weekend's Spanish MotoGP at Jerez yesterday.

Stoner was fastest in the morning, while in the afternoon it was the turn of his Spanish team-mate to set the benchmark. Pedrosa's best time of 1min 40.101sec in the afternoon was 0.188sec faster than Stoner, although the Australian posted the best time of the day overall, his effort in first practice was six-tenths quicker than the afternoon's best.

Behind the Hondas, Pedrosa's compatriot, the reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), improved from fifth to third with Marco Simoncelli (Honda Gresini) fourth. Valentino Rossi was fifth on the factory Ducati, while Britain's Cal Crutchlow finished down in 15th on the Tech 3 Yamaha.