Casey Stoner made another extremely strong start to a MotoGP weekend as he led a works Honda one-two in opening Motegi practice.
Championship leader Stoner's 1m47.393s put him on top just beyond the halfway point of the session, after his teammate Andrea Dovizioso and Gresini Honda's Marco Simoncelli had briefly had turns in front. Stoner then finished the morning by improving to a 1m47.289s to cement his advantage.
Dovisioso remained second, but Honda's hopes of a one-two-three to commence its home weekend were dashed when Ducati's Nicky Hayden blasted through to third, ahead of Honda man Dani Pedrosa, with a minute to go.
Series champion Jorge Lorenzo was only fifth for Yamaha. Simoncelli fell to sixth in the end after crashing late on. He was unhurt in the relatively gentle low-side.
Colin Edwards took seventh for Tech 3 Yamaha, with works Yamaha rider Ben Spies eighth, Hector Barbera (Aspar Ducati) ninth, and Valentino Rossi squeezing his Ducati into the top 10 with his last lap.
At the back, Kousuke Akiyoshi was the quickest of the trio of one-off riders on the LCR Honda, as he, Shinichi Ito (Honda) and Damian Cudlin (Pramac Ducati) found their feet.