diff --git a/grab/spider/base.py b/grab/spider/base.py
index 60922ff9..9992b675 100644
--- a/grab/spider/base.py
+++ b/grab/spider/base.py
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ def setup_grab(self, **kwargs):
 
     def check_task_limits(self, task):
         """
-        Check that network/try counters are OK.
+        Check that task's network & try counters do not exceed limits.
 
         Returns:
         * if success: (True, None)
@@ -397,9 +397,6 @@ def load_new_task(self):
         logger_verbose.debug('Task queue is empty.')
         return None
 
-    def process_task_counters(self, task):
-        task.network_try_count += 1
-
     def create_grab_instance(self, **kwargs):
         # Back-ward compatibility for deprecated `grab_config` attribute
         # Here I use `_grab_config` to not trigger warning messages
@@ -701,8 +698,8 @@ def process_new_task(self, task):
                     logger_verbose.debug('Submitting task to the transport '
                                          'layer')
                     try:
-                        self.transport.process_task(task, grab,
-                                                    grab_config_backup)
+                        self.transport.start_task_processing(
+                            task, grab, grab_config_backup)
                     except GrabInvalidUrl:
                         logger.debug('Task %s has invalid URL: %s' % (
                             task.name, task.url))
@@ -797,10 +794,12 @@ def run(self):
                     else:
                         logger_verbose.debug('Got new task from task queue: %s'
                                              % task)
-                        self.process_task_counters(task)
+                        task.network_try_count += 1
 
                         is_valid, reason = self.check_task_limits(task)
-                        if not is_valid:
+                        if is_valid:
+                            self.process_new_task(task)
+                        else:
                             logger_verbose.debug('Task %s is rejected due to '
                                                  '%s limit'
                                                  % (task.name, reason))
@@ -817,9 +816,6 @@ def run(self):
                             handler = task.get_fallback_handler(self)
                             if handler:
                                 handler(task)
-                        else:
-                            self.process_new_task(task)
-                            self.transport.process_handlers()
 
                 with self.timer.log_time('network_transport'):
                     logger_verbose.debug('Asking transport layer to do '
diff --git a/grab/spider/cache_backend/mysql.py b/grab/spider/cache_backend/mysql.py
index 96df7526..8f840165 100644
--- a/grab/spider/cache_backend/mysql.py
+++ b/grab/spider/cache_backend/mysql.py
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ def get_item(self, url, timeout=None):
         """
 
         _hash = self.build_hash(url)
-        with self.spider.stat.log_time('cache.read.mysql_query'):
+        with self.spider.timer.log_time('cache.read.mysql_query'):
             self.execute('BEGIN')
             if timeout is None:
                 query = ""
@@ -97,12 +97,12 @@ def get_item(self, url, timeout=None):
             return None
 
     def unpack_database_value(self, val):
-        with self.spider.stat.log_time('cache.read.unpack_data'):
+        with self.spider.timer.log_time('cache.read.unpack_data'):
             dump = zlib.decompress(val)
             return marshal.loads(dump)
 
     def build_hash(self, url):
-        with self.spider.stat.log_time('cache.read.build_hash'):
+        with self.spider.timer.log_time('cache.read.build_hash'):
             utf_url = make_str(url)
             return sha1(utf_url).hexdigest()
 
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ def has_item(self, url, timeout=None):
         """
 
         _hash = self.build_hash(url)
-        with self.spider.stat.log_time('cache.read.mysql_query'):
+        with self.spider.timer.log_time('cache.read.mysql_query'):
             if timeout is None:
                 query = ""
             else:
diff --git a/grab/spider/cache_backend/postgresql.py b/grab/spider/cache_backend/postgresql.py
index 4ad38670..f3d57909 100644
--- a/grab/spider/cache_backend/postgresql.py
+++ b/grab/spider/cache_backend/postgresql.py
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ def get_item(self, url, timeout=None):
         """
 
         _hash = self.build_hash(url)
-        with self.spider.stat.log_time('cache.read.postgresql_query'):
+        with self.spider.timer.log_time('cache.read.postgresql_query'):
             self.cursor.execute('BEGIN')
             if timeout is None:
                 query = ""
@@ -87,12 +87,12 @@ def get_item(self, url, timeout=None):
             return None
 
     def unpack_database_value(self, val):
-        with self.spider.stat.log_time('cache.read.unpack_data'):
+        with self.spider.timer.log_time('cache.read.unpack_data'):
             dump = zlib.decompress(val)
             return marshal.loads(dump)
 
     def build_hash(self, url):
-        with self.spider.stat.log_time('cache.read.build_hash'):
+        with self.spider.timer.log_time('cache.read.build_hash'):
             utf_url = make_str(url)
             return sha1(utf_url).hexdigest()
 
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ def has_item(self, url, timeout=None):
         """
 
         _hash = self.build_hash(url)
-        with self.spider.stat.log_time('cache.read.postgresql_query'):
+        with self.spider.timer.log_time('cache.read.postgresql_query'):
             if timeout is None:
                 query = ""
             else:
diff --git a/grab/spider/transport/multicurl.py b/grab/spider/transport/multicurl.py
index 50a3ffad..f723e78b 100644
--- a/grab/spider/transport/multicurl.py
+++ b/grab/spider/transport/multicurl.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ def process_connection_count(self, curl):
         else:
             return curl
 
-    def process_task(self, task, grab, grab_config_backup):
+    def start_task_processing(self, task, grab, grab_config_backup):
         curl = self.process_connection_count(self.freelist.pop())
 
         self.registry[id(curl)] = {
diff --git a/test/spider_stat.py b/test/spider_stat.py
index 5a9645fd..3224bba7 100644
--- a/test/spider_stat.py
+++ b/test/spider_stat.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class TestSpider(Spider):
             pass
 
         bot = TestSpider()
-        self.assertRaises(KeyError, bot.stop_timer, 'zzz')
+        self.assertRaises(KeyError, bot.timer.stop, 'zzz')
 
     def test_counters_and_collections(self):
         from grab.stat import DEFAULT_COUNTER_KEY