There are some Michelin runners towards the top of the timing sheets after two practice sessions, the trouble is that they got there with just one flying lap. Consider this: at the end of the second free practice session Casey Stoner did a fourteen-lap run. After the out lap, he did two laps in the 1min 23sec bracket, eight in the 22s and four in the 21s. Of the Michelin runners, only Nicky Hayden got into the 22s. And he did it once only. Most of the time he was in the 23s. Whatever the tyre he used for his best laptime was, it isn't going to last race distance...

Apart from Nicky in second place this afternoon, there are only two more Michelin men in the top ten. They are Edwards and Dovizioso in seventh and eighth. Just to show that it isn't all about the tyre, Valentino Rossi in third put in a bunch of 22s, but they were all high 22s. He didn't get within three-quarters of a second of a 21. I've being saying all week that the laws of probability are stacking up against Casey. He's converted the fastest time in free practice into pole position for the last four races. Since he got his tweaked '08 engine back at Donington he's then won the last three races and set the fastest lap on the way. How long can a run like that keep going? Frankly, if he failed to get pole or set the fastest lap of the race on Sunday it would count as a shock. The idea that Casey might not win the race currently doesn't even get on the radar. Rossi and Burgess need to perform a major miracle if they are to have a chance of stopping Casey's run.