Rossi edges Stoner in practice

Reigning world champion Valentino Rossi held the edge over Casey Stoner with the best time in opening free practice at the Australian Grand Prix yesterday.

Rossi, who leads his Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo by 18 points heading into the third-last MotoGP of the season, set the fastest time in the session with one minute 31.032 seconds.

The Italian six-time premier class world champion looked comfortable in completing 31 laps of the island circuit in dry conditions.

"Today we made a great start," Rossi said.

"I am really happy to start in front at Phillip Island, which is where I love to ride."

His time was 0.135 of a second better than Ducati racer Stoner, who is bidding for a hat-trick of wins in his home Grand Prix this weekend.

Stoner, who returned to the championship at the last Portugal MotoGP after missing three races through illness, clocked his best time of 1:31.167 on the last of his 22 laps.

Stoner is trailing Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, of Spain, by three points in the chase for third place in the championship.

"I'm not that happy with today's session," Stoner said.

"The track conditions weren't good at all unfortunately and I struggled for traction, which is usually a strong point of our bike."