Repsol Honda‘s Casey Stoner has grabbed the first pole position of the season, after beating off competition from teammate Dani Pedrosa throughout the session. Stoner trashed his fastest lap from practice to post a stunning time of 1:54.137, with Pedrosa just 0.205s behind. Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo will complete the front row, after having trailed teammate Ben Spies for a large chunk of the session.
San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli eventually managed to post a decent time, after hanging around near the lower part of the top 10. Ben Spies was shunted down to 5th on the grid after spending alot of the session in 3rd, even splitting the rampaging Honda’s at one point in 2nd. Row 2 is backed up by the fastest Ducati on the grid, with Hector Barbera on the Mapfre Aspar machine.
The 3rd Repsol Honda, in the shape of Andrea Dovizioso starts at the front of Row 3. Dovizioso will be hoping he can match the lightning pace of his teammates in the race tomorrow. 8th was secured with a stunning ride from Monster Yamaha Tech3‘s Cal Crutchlow. The Brit is still struggling with his hand injury yet he still managed to beat Marlboro Ducati’s Valentino Rossi on his debut. The Italian is still struggling with his shoulder as he wrestles his Ducati around the circuit and lines up in 9th.
Colin Edwards starts at the head of Row 4 in 10th on the second Monster Yamaha Tech3, followed by Randy De Puniet on the lead Pramac Ducati, with a disappointed Hiroshi Aoyama in 12th. The San Carlo Honda Gresini rider looked a sure fire hit to place in the top ten, but he lost out in the closing stages of the session.
Nicky Hayden‘s weekend continues to go from bad to worse, as the American Ducati rider still cannot improve his pace and he starts in 13th after just improving in the closing stages of the session. Loris Capirossi on the second of the Pramac Ducati’s lines up behind in 14th with Karel Abraham rounding off Row 5 on his debut in 15th on the Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati.
Toni Elias starts on his own on Row 6 in 16th as he continues to struggle on the LCR Honda, due to the absence of Rizla Suzuki’s Ãlvaro Bautista.
