Ducati's Casey Stoner topped the times in a sodden warm-up for this weekend's Japanese MotoGP round at Motegi.

With on-track conditions very similar to those that saw all qualifying sessions canceled yesterday, few riders set times early in the session, with a full ten minutes in the middle of the session with no riders on track.

Toni Elias was the first back out when they returned to the circuit, and set a succession of fast laps before Yuki Takahashi took over top spot. The final five minutes saw a flurry of action as everyone took to the circuit.

With a minute remaining in the session, Marco Melandri moved to the top of the times on his Kawasaki, only to be deposed 20 seconds later when Elias went nearly two seconds faster.

On his next lap Elias went another half a second faster again, but Stoner, who had started his final lap of the session 15 seconds before the checkered flag fell, was flying, putting in a 2:05.903, just over two seconds faster than Elias's best.

Less than a second behind Elias were three more Hondas in Takahashi, Alex de Angelis and Dani Pedrosa.

Behind a quartet of Hondas were two former Ducati factory riders in the form of Sete Gibernau and Marco Melandri, Melandri ending up seventh fastest nearly four seconds off the pace after topping the times just a minute before the end.

The fastest Yamaha was Jorge Lorenzo in 10th, with pole man Valentino Rossi ending the session 12th fastest, and Colin Edwards who topped yesterday's wet practice in 16th.

Both Suzukis were also well down the order, Chris Vermeulen in 14th and Loris Capirossi in 18th and last position.
Pos Rider                  Team                Time          Gap
 1. Casey Stoner           Ducati              2:05.903
 2. Toni Elias             Gresini Honda       2:07.945   + 2.042
 3. Yuki Takahashi         Scot Honda          2:08.224   + 2.321
 4. Alex de Angelis        Gresini Honda       2:08.572   + 2.669
 5. Dani Pedrosa           Honda               2:08.720   + 2.817
 6. Sete Gibernau          Hernando Ducati     2:09.169   + 3.266
 7. Marco Melandri         Hayate Kawasaki     2:09.866   + 3.963
 8. Mika Kallio            Pramac Ducati       2:10.275   + 4.372
 9. Andrea Dovizioso       Honda               2:10.350   + 4.447
10. Jorge Lorenzo          Yamaha              2:10.718   + 4.815
11. Nicky Hayden           Ducati              2:10.983   + 5.080
12. Randy de Puniet        LCR Honda           2:11.315   + 5.412
13. Valentino Rossi        Yamaha              2:11.472   + 5.569
14. Chris Vermeulen        Suzuki              2:11.588   + 5.685
15. Niccolo Canepa         Pramac Ducati       2:12.703   + 6.800
16. Colin Edwards          Tech 3 Yamaha       2:13.169   + 7.266
17. James Toseland         Tech 3 Yamaha       2:19.224   +13.321
18. Loris Capirossi        Suzuki              2:23.058   +17.155