Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner tied the premier class record for most poles in one season by setting the fastest time with a dominant performance in MotoGP qualifying for the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix in Spain.
The hourlong session was held under threatening skies with an occasional drizzle, but the final 20 minutes were mostly dry. Stoner sat out the start of the session before running a six-lap streak that put him on top after about 16 minutes. No one else made a serious attack on the time and it would be Stoner who would lower it. He brought it down three more times, with a best of 1:31.861 mins. with just less than four minutes to run.
The pole was the 32nd of his MotoGP career 12th of the year, tying fellow Australian for most in one season. More importantly, it was over a second faster than the qualifying lap of runner-up Dani Pedrosa. Stoner’s teammate finished with a time of 1:32.875 mins., a gap of 1.014 secs.
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Yamaha’s Ben Spies earned his fifth front row spot of the season by qualifying third on the strength of his final lap of 1:33.083 mins.
Row two was an eclectic mix, with Pramac Racing Ducati’s Randy de Puniet in front of Rizla Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista and Ducati Marlboro’s Valentino Rossi. Fourth was de Puniet’s best qualifying effort of the season and his first second row start. Bautista only has one other second row start, a fifth in the Australian Grand Prix. And Rossi matched his best qualifying effort of the year, a sixth in qualifying for the Czech Grand Prix in Brno. Cycle News
While Stoner and Pedrosa filled the top two places, third works Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso struggled - crashing heavily at Turn 4 on his final lap as he ended up eighth.
Hector Barbera recovered from early mechanical problems on his Aspar Ducati to qualify 10th, with Karel Abraham completing the top 10 for Cardion AB Ducati.
Loris Capirossi (Pramac) will start his final MotoGP race from 12th, while Colin Edwards’ Tech 3 stand-in Josh Hayes was slowest in his first MotoGP qualifying session, but only just behind Yamaha factory rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga, who is substituting for the injured Jorge Lorenzo. Yahoo! Eurosport UK
Pos. Num. Rider Team Time 1 27 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1'31.861 2 26 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1'32.875 3 11 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1'33.057 4 14 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1'33.118 5 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'33.443 6 46 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1'33.478 7 69 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1'33.656 8 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1'33.824 9 8 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1'34.186 10 17 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1'34.265 11 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'34.329 12 65 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 1'34.671 13 24 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1'34.680 14 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'34.838 15 89 Katsuyuki NAKASUGA Yamaha Factory Racing 1'35.999 16 41 Josh HAYES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'36.042
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