News

Stoner takes pole with last ditch effort

01/09/07

By David Miller

Ducati's Casey Stoner pulled off another pole position in Misano this afternoon just as it looked like Valentino Rossi had returned to form by posting a provisional pole time with two minutes to go.

The Fiat Yamaha rider had been sitting pretty in fourth place and waiting for his usual moment to go out and pop in a quick one. Nicky Hayden, who had been languishing mid-table, went fastest at what was thought to be the death, but he had towed Rossi round.

"I rode at the maximum today and I'm very happy with the result. It's been a long time without a front-row start, since Donington, and it's a big relief to be back here again," said The Doctor. 

"I like this track a lot so far, it's technical and has some really good parts, it's not too tight and it's possible to have fun. There are some bumps but it's not disastrous and it seems to suit our bike well."

Stoner was out on the same lap and just squeezed in a 1'33.918 time to secure a further, if now incredibly predictable, pole position and an extra Tissot watch for his trouble.

"We are pretty happy with the settings we have at the moment - we were fast this morning when we did race distance on our softest compound race tyres and everything is looking pretty good for the race. But we'll just have to wait and see, because I'm not really sure about everyone else's situation," said the 21-year-old Aussie.

Kawasaki's Randy De Puniet spent a great deal of the session on pole and was the first man to dip under the 1'35s laptime. He was briefly deposed by team-mate Anthony West with 15 minutes to go but came straight back, only for Chris Vermeulen to knock him off the top spot.

"Fourth is not so bad but I think I could have been on the front row, all things considered," said the Frenchman. "On the last lap, I made a small mistake in turn three, and lost some tenths, and that's why I'm on the second row. However, in practice I was going very fast on race tyres so I feel like we've got an exceptional set up for tomorrow."

Reigning champion Hayden secured the front row's last grid slot while De Puniet sits in fourth, with Hopkins and Pedrosa in close attendance. Vermeulen ended up way down in eighth behind Carlos Checa and West will wonder how he managed to be shuffled down to tenth behind Colin Edwards after sitting on pole.

Injured hero Marco Melandri eventually had to settle for 12th place - not bad considering he is still suffering from neck and foot problems, and was spat off his Honda this morning (see below).

Qualifying practice - conditions dry

1 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI 1'33.918
2 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'34.094
3 1 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'34.469
4 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'34.506
5 21 John HOPKINS USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'34.536
6 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'34.580
7 7 Carlos CHECA SPA Honda LCR HONDA 1'34.628
8 71 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'34.717
9 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'34.768
10 13 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'34.939
11 50 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'35.202
12 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Honda Gresini HONDA 1'35.236
13 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI 1'35.283
14 56 Shinya NAKANO JPN Konica Minolta Honda HONDA 1'35.389
15 24 Toni ELIAS SPA Honda Gresini HONDA 1'35.632
16 6 Makoto TAMADA JPN Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'35.865
17 4 Alex BARROS BRA Pramac d'Antin DUCATI 1'35.897
18 80 Kurtis ROBERTS USA Team Roberts KR212V 1'36.605
19 66 Alex HOFMANN GER Pramac d'Antin DUCATI 1'36.659 

Italian hardman Marco Melandri has spent some more time in the Clinica Mobile after a huge highside in this morning's free practice session but was back on track again with ten minutes to go.

He managed to keep his injured neck tucked away in the crash and is fit for this afternoon's qualifying - it may well be on his number two bike though, after managing to park his favoured Gresini Honda on top of a tyre wall.

Casey Stoner dipped underneath Troy Corser's best lap of 1'34.948 with seven minutes to go of the marathon free practice session, posting a 1'34.714 which was a full six tenths faster than a somewhat rejuventated Valentino Rossi.

Kawasaki new boy Anthony West jumped into a surprise third late on with 1'35.582, demoting Carlos Checa who had been inside the top four for a decent segment of the session.

MotoGP free practice two - conditions dry

1 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI 1'34.714
2 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'35.230
3 13 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'35.582
4 7 Carlos CHECA SPA Honda LCR HONDA 1'35.644
5 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'35.660
6 71 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'35.708
7 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'35.778
8 1 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'35.850
9 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'35.998
10 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI 1'36.069
11 21 John HOPKINS USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'36.265
12 6 Makoto TAMADA JPN Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'36.321
13 4 Alex BARROS BRA Pramac d'Antin DUCATI 1'36.484
14 50 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'36.501
15 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Honda Gresini HONDA 1'36.649
16 66 Alex HOFMANN GER Pramac d'Antin DUCATI 1'37.087
17 24 Toni ELIAS SPA Honda Gresini HONDA 1'37.412
18 80 Kurtis ROBERTS USA Team Roberts KR212V 1'37.489
19 56 Shinya NAKANO JPN Konica Minolta Honda HONDA 1'37.770