Pedrosa quickest in Malaysia MotoGP practice

Spain's Dani Pedrosa rode his Honda to the fastest times in Friday's combined free practice ahead of Sunday's Malaysian MotoGP. Pedrosa outperformed championship leader Marc Marquez, posting a best lap of 2min 00.554sec. The Honda teammates were followed by Britain's Cal Crutchlow, seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi and defending champion Jorge Lorenzo. Pedrosa, who won last year's Malaysian GP, said despite topping both practice sessions, he still felt pain from a crash caused when Marquez touched his bike at the last race in Spain. Marquez on Thursday received one penalty point over the Aragon incident. "I expected to have less pain actually... But I was fast already from the beginning," Pedrosa said. "If I can get a good painkiller for the race, maybe it's okay." Pedrosa ranks third in the championship standings, 59 points behind Marquez. Lorenzo is second, and his teammate Rossi is fourth. Marquez, who has had a phenomenal debut season, said it was "nice" to return to Sepang, where the riders did pre-season testing. "Today I feel quite good... We need to improve many points (such as the braking) but we are on the good way," the 20-year-old said. Lorenzo, who has admitted retaining the championship will be "almost impossible", said his Yamaha lagged behind the Hondas. "We cannot control the performance of the other riders that now is so high in this track especially. We can just improve ourselves," said the Spaniard, who posted the fastest ever lap of Sepang last year at 2min 00.334sec. "I have to be confident. It's the only way... If you don't feel confident or you are unhappy, it's the start of the finish," he added. Source:AFP