Espargaro edges Marquez in Phillip Island practice

AleixEspargaro pipped world championship leader Marc Marquez to set thefastest time in yesterday’s practice ahead of this weekend’s AustralianMotoGP at Phillip Island.The Spanish Aprilia rider posted a quickestlap of one minute 29.225 seconds in second free practice on a dry trackahead of tomorrow’s race.Espargaro’s time, set on the fifth lap ofhis afternoon session, prevailed by just 0.005secs over Marquez, whoalmost bettered the time on his penultimate lap. “It is just thefirst day, but we are clearly doing a great job,” Espargaro said. “Wecan improve on pace. The RS-GP (bike) still doesn’t turn the way I wouldlike it to and I am lacking a bit of feeling on the front.“Finding a good feeling for the race will be fundamental.”Marquez,who leads the world championship by 11 points with three races left,clocked 1:29.230 following his chart-topping 1:29.602 in the morningsession.“I think for tomorrow we can try and further improve theset-up, especially the stability of the bike in the fast corners,”Marquez said.“There are a few places where we could be quicker if we can manage to take another step in that area.”Championship challenger Andrea Dovizioso was third quickest overall, finishing just 0.097secs behind Espargaro.“Wehave to work to improve a few aspects, because in any case Marquez wasalso very quick and there are other riders who have a good pace,”Dovizioso said.“Let’s see what sort of conditions we will encounter tomorrow, but for sure this was a positive first day for me.”Ducati’sDovizioso downed Marquez on the final lap to win last weekend’srain-soaked Japanese GP and is second in the world championship.BritonCal Crutchlow, the winner of last year’s Australian race, was fourthfastest on a Honda, only 0.104secs down on the leader’s time. Spain’s Maverick Vinales was fifth fastest despite coming off his Yamaha early in afternoon practice.“Theday overall has been really good,” Vinales said. “Before the crash Iwas already coming up with red-helmet (quickest) times in many sectors,but I was trying so hard I pushed the bike over the limit.“We still have to improve, but the crash was, for sure, my mistake.”AustralianJack Miller, in his first MotoGP event back since breaking a leg duringtraining, was sixth ahead of Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone.Six-timepremier class Phillip Island winner, Valentino Rossi, trailed in 12thplace overall on his Yamaha, some 0.752secs behind Espargaro’s time.“We have a lot to do, also the tyre choice front and rear is still open, so I hope for good conditions tomorrow,” Rossi said.The weather on the opening day was sunny, but the forecast for today is for cooler temperatures and possible showers.