Dani Pedrosa's chances of winning the MotoGP Championship were almost certainly ended on Friday when he broke his left collarbone in a crash during practice for this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.
The Honda rider, the only man who can stop championship leader Jorge Lorenzo from grabbing his first title, suffered a triple fracture to his left collarbone as he spun off at Motegi.
With five races left in the season, Pedrosa is 56 points behind fellow Spaniard Lorenzo, who has collected 284 MotoGP points so far.
Lorenzo turned in the third fastest time on his Yamaha of Friday as team-mate Valentino Rossi topped the time sheets followed by Honda's Andrea Dovizioso.
Australian Casey Stoner was fourth quickest for Ducati and has the chance on Sunday to close the gap on Pedrosa who has 228 points to Stoner's 155 with and Rossi on 140.
