Testing for the 2008 MotoGP season has begun in Australia at Phillip Island. Dani Pedrosa, Valentino Rossi and teammate  Jorge Lorenzo will not participate in the testing in Australia. Having overall great weather here are the times :

Phillip Island 2008 Testing D1

1. Edwards - Yamaha Tech 3 - 77 laps - 1′29.566
2. Stoner - Ducati Marlboro - 73 laps - 1′30.178
3. De Angelis - Honda Gresini - 70 laps - 1′30.688
4. Dovizioso - JiR Team Scot - 79 laps - 1′30.701
5. Toseland - Yamaha Tech 3 - 81 laps - 1′30.864
6. Melandri - Ducati Marlboro - 99 laps - 1′30.869
7. Nakano - Honda Gresini - 91 laps - 1′31.111
8. Hayden - Repsol Honda - 107 laps - 1′31.226
9. Capirossi - Rizla Suzuki - 82 laps - 1′31.274
10. Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki - 99 laps - 1′31.317
11. De Puniet - Honda LCR - 103 laps - 1′31.436
12. Hopkins - Kawasaki Racing - 88 laps - 1′31.623
13. West - Kawasaki Racing -72 laps - 1′31.786
14. Guintoli - Alice Team - 68 laps - 1′32.484
15. Elias - Alice Team - 90 laps - 1′32.573

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For the 2007 MotoGP season their was 117 crashes, 36 occurred during a race, the rest during practice and qualifying times. Randy de Puniet was the rider with the most crashes this year, having hit the track 12 times. He had the most in 2006 as well with a total of 14, showing a slight increase for the Frenchman. Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner both posted 6 crashes each, a big improvement for the Ausie rider Casey Stoner who had 14 crashes in 2006. Rossi however increased from his 4 crashes in 2006.

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During his month off of testing in December, Hopkins returned to America, more specifically Las Vegas and the Hard Rock Hotel, and tied the knot with his fiancee Ashleigh. Colin Edwards attended along with a few other MotoGP riders. The happy newly married couple will spend their honeymoon in French Polynesia so Hopkins will be ready for testing to resume for 2008 in Sepang.

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The “Kentucky Kid” - Nicky Hayden used the off season time to have surgey on his shoulder. The 2006 World Champion went under the knife in Northern California under the care of motorcycle injury specialist Dr. Ting. Hayden is unable to type his own messages but with some help he checked in with fans on his website to inform them of his current condition.

“All went good and Dr. Ting is happy with how it went,” Hayden told fans, “after a week or ten days I’ll be able to take the sling off and should have no problems being 100% for the next test.”

Hayden wasn’t the only rider at Dr. Tings clinic, AMA Superbike Champion Ben Spies and Hayden’s own former teammate Jason Pridmore were also on site getting treatments.

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Nearly Nine tenths of a second faster than his pole position time for the 2007 season’s race at Jerez, Dani Pedrosa came out on top of the timesheet at the last winter test of the season. Pedrosa was followed by teammate Nicky Hayden who also completed a successful run onboard the new 2008 Repsol Honda RC212v. Both Repsol riders put there time in on the track and they were the only two to be under the 1′39 mark. A significant feat which was done with a qualifier tire!

Lorenzo showed much improvement with development on the bike, where he ended up third overall, at a track where he has won for the past two seasons. Valentino Rossi was a notable rider that closed the day early, saying he didn’t have strength in his injured hand and had pain. Stoner didn’t make an appearance on the third day, where he went back home to rest his shoulder from his crash on day two.

MotoGP Jerez Test Day Three:

1. Dani Pedrosa-1′38.562 (Repsol Honda)

2. Nicky Hayden-1′38.848 (Repsol Honda)

3. Jorge Lorenzo-1′39.464 (Fiat Yamaha)

4. Andrea Dovizioso-1′39.747

5. Shinya Nakano-1′40.121 (Gresini Honda)

6. Colin Edwards-1′40.184 (Yamaha Tech 3)

7. Alex De Angelis-1′40.185 (Gresini Honda)

8. James Toseland-1′40.213 (Yamaha Tech 3)

9. Randy de Puniet-1′40.398 (LCR Honda)

10. John Hopkins-1′40.984 (Kawasaki)

11. Valentino Rossi-1′41.538 (Fiat Yamaha)

12. Marco Melandri-1′41.619 (Ducati Marlboro)

13. Taddy Okada-1′41.715 (Repsol Test Rider)

14. Niccolo Canepa-1′41.793 (Ducati Test Rider)

15. Anthony West-1′42.343 (Kawasaki)

16. Vittoriano Guareschi-1′42.343 (Ducati Test Rider)

17. Shinichi Ito-1′43.001 (Bridgestone Tester)

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