Rossi eyes Australia MotoGP

Phillip Island:

Valentino Rossi topped the time sheets in the opening session for the Australian Grand Prix on Friday, the penultimate race of the season. The Italian needs to finish in the top two at Phillip Island to claim his fourth successive championship. Rossi is aiming to win the Australian MotoGP for the third time in succession and the fifth time overall. The 25-year old finished the opening qualifying session with a single-lap time of 1 minute 30.222 seconds - too fast for the rest of the field. Spain's Sete Gibernau is the only man who can stop Rossi from taking the title and was clearly giving it his all on Friday. The Honda rider pushed hard, but had to settle for second in a time of 1 minutes 30.600 seconds. That put him some way clear of the third placed Nicky Hayden - the American completing the provisional front row with a time 0.777 seconds slower than his fellow Honda rider. (AP)