The Desmosedicis have once again dominated the top speed charts throughout the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, with only Honda's Dani Pedrosa able to prevent a perfect top four sweep of every session - the Spaniard clocking the second fastest top speed during Friday afte🐽rnoon.

However, riders are much more wary of giving a tow𒊎 to their opponents in qualifying - producing a more realistic indication of ultimate engine performance along the huge 1.2km back straight, the longest in MotoGP - and it was under those circumstances that the Desmosedicis were once again unchallenged.

Factory rider Marco Melandri was fastest of all, setting a 327.6km/h (203.6mph), with Sylvain Gu🅘intoli second on 327.1km/h (203.3mph) - indicating there is little difference in engine output between the factory and satellite machines. Then came world champion Casey Stoner with 324.0km/h (201.3mph) and Guintoli's Alice team-mate Toni Elias 321.9km/h (200.0mph).

The leading non-D🦹ucati was Valentino Rossi's factory Yamaha, which reached 318.5km/h (197.9mph), followed by pole sitter Colin Edwards, whose Michelin-shod Tech 3 Ya💖maha hit 317.8 km/h (197.5mph).

Despite qualifying last on t🅺he grid, Anthony West's Kawasaki was the next fastest with 316.6km/h (196.7mph) - a speed 2.8km/h higher than team-mate John Hopkins, who was only 15th quickest through the speed trap.

The top Honda was the Bridgestone-shod satellite machi꧑ne of Shinya Nakano, in ninth (316.5km/h), with the diminutive Pedrosa unsurprisingly the first of the Repsol factory bikes - but in a disappointing eleventh (315.7km/h) on the list.

Of the slowest eight bikes in qualifying, five were Hondas, suggesting t♎hat the RC212V's spring-valve engine is struggling in that department against its desmodromic/pneumatic valve rivals, although Suzuki looks to need the most 🎃top speed progress.

Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi were 16th and 17th out of the♉ 18 riders in terms of qualifying top speed, with a best of 311.9km/h and 311.8km/h respectively. Only Andrea Dovizioso's satellite Honda was slower tha𓆏n the GSV-Rs.

Of course, top speed is only one factor that contributes to overall lap time, as illustrated by Capirossi qualifying in sixth position and Melandri only twelfth, but it's the 'simplest' way for a rider to go faster - and makes overta🌳king much easier in the race.

The fastest top speed in any session so far this weekend꧟ is 329.4km/h (204.7mph) by Stoner in FP1, while the highest top speed ever recorded in MotoGP is 343.7km/h (213.6mph) set by Makoto Tamada, on a 990cc Honda, during qualifying at Shanghai in 2006.