Australian GP. First practice

Dani Pedrosa forced to undergo surgery after a crash
125cc World Champion broke both ankles and has undergone surgery in Melbourne. In the MotoGP class, Valentino Rossi keeps on ruling; Toni Elias is third and Poggiali sixth.
 Dani Pedrosa, 125cc World Champion, has successfully undergone surgery after the injuries suffered this morning during the free practice of the Australian GP. Due to the crash, Pedrosa had a severe fracture of the left astragalus and another, less serious one, in the right external malleolus. Given the seriousness of the injuries, the rider was immediately taken to the Victoria Hospital in Melbourne for surgery. According to the medical team that carried out the operation, everything went satisfactory. Pedrosa will have to stay in hospital at least for a week before flying back to Spain. The recovery period has been estimated to be of about three months. With regard to the sporting aspect, Valentino Rossi keeps on ruling firmly in the MotoGP class and the recent title clinched in Malaysia doesnt seem to have satisfied his desire to win. The Repsol rider has set the fastest time in both sessions, always followed very close by Loris Capirossi and the local rider Troy Bayliss on their Ducatis. His teammate Nicky Hayden clocked the sixth fastest time in both practice sessions. In the 250 class, Toni Elias keeps on making pressure on Manuel Poggiali, always accompanied by his teammate Fonsi Nieto, who after being out of the battle for the title is doing his utmost to take as many points from the leader of the overall standings. In the mornings free practice, Elias finished third, Nieto fifth and Poggiali sixth, whilst in the afternoon, Elias was third again, Nieto fourth and Poggiali sixth. The pole was taken today by the YPF rider Sebastián Porto, who is aware of the Aprilias potential and will be fighting tomorrow to keep a place on the front row of the grid. Joan Olivé finished twentieth and Héctor Faubel twenty-first. In the 125, Héctor Barberá has shown himself highly competitive from the beginning, setting the first fastest time in the morning and the second fastest in the afternoon, two hundreds of a second behind the fastest time set by the Derbi rider Jorge Lorenzo. His teammate, Pablo Nieto, with a lot of setting problems with his Aprilia, set the nineteenth fastest time.