Look at the headline. Then his time, Then look at the last paragraph... No headline that Edwards beat Stoners time. Gotta love the one eyed aussie press. Stoner breaks Phillip Island record January 31, 2008 - 3:45PM After breaking the Phillip Island lap record, World MotoGP champion Casey Stoner this week laid down the gauntlet in his bid for back-to-back crowns this year. Stoner's opening test session at the Island produced a super quick time and gave him an immediate psychological edge over his rivals. And the Young Australian of the Year reported that the shoulder he injured in Spain last November was continuing to heal rapidly. Rain today hampered all riders at the track but conditions are set to improve for tomorrow's final session. Stoner reeled off a string of laps in the 1 minute 30 second bracket with a best time of 1:30.178 - slashing two-tenths of a second from the track record set by Stoner's Ducati teammate Marco Melandri, when he rode for Honda in 2005. After the recent successful test at Sepang in Malaysia, Stoner said his optimism continued to build ahead of the season start at Qatar on March 9. "Everything went really well ... the feeling with the bike was perfect almost straight away," Stoner said. "The new Bridgestones, which had already given us positive feedback at Sepang, also worked perfectly here at Phillip Island. "One of them in particular improves the bike a lot in the exit of the corners, especially in the final section of the track." Stoner indicated that he still had plenty of time in reserve despite dipping under the circuit record. "We've also taken a step forward with some small changes to the front which have made the bike more stable and improved grip to the point where my best time came without pushing, on a tyre that already had 17 laps on it," he said. "I'm also really happy with the latest specs of the engine and the way it is responding under acceleration coming out of the corners." Stoner admitted feeling some pain in his shoulder but did not think it hampered his test performance. "Towards the end of the day my shoulder was a little sore because this is such a physical track with a lot of fast corners but it is still better than it was in Malaysia," he said. American Yamaha rider Colin Edwards set a time of 1:29.566s but admitted he had been using one-lap qualifying tyres while Stoner used race rubber throughout the day.
