News

pedrosa on pole as stoner struggles

22/09/07

Spaniard Dani Pedrosa has claimed his second pole position of this year's championship at Motegi after pipping Valentino Rossi for the coveted number one slot on his second from last lap.

The Repsol Honda man posted a 1'45.864 lap compared to Rossi's 1'46.255. The Italian had much better time of it after his engine blow up yesterday, which  was the second time the new pneumatic valve motor has let go in three weeks.

Runaway championship leader Casey Stoner, who could win the title at Motegi, had a disastrous session, finishing ninth - a full one and a half seconds behind the leader and his worst qualifying position of the year so far.

"Today we couldn't get a good feeling with the bike, no matter what we did," he said. "I was frustrated because I think we could have improved my time with my second qualifying run but the change we'd made to the setting made braking difficult, so when I came into the last chicane the bike wouldn't go back a gear, so I destroyed the last corner and lost more than half a second.

"The tyres weren't so bad and to be honest the setting we had this morning was quite good, but as soon as we started the afternoon session that setting didn't seem to work, so we struggled to find a solution. We know we have to improve a little bit more and I think we will try another direction during warm-up. If we can improve a bit in the morning, starting from the third row shouldn't be a big problem. Normally we get goods start and with a few passes we can get to the front."

MotoGP qualifying practice - conditions dry

1 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'45.864
2 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'46.255
3 1 Nicky HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'46.575
4 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'46.643
5 24 Toni ELIAS SPA Honda Gresini HONDA 1'46.804
6 13 Anthony WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'46.912
7 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Fiat Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1'46.997
8 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI 1'47.047
9 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team DUCATI 1'47.121
10 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Honda Gresini HONDA 1'47.136
11 21 John HOPKINS USA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'47.163
12 56 Shinya NAKANO JPN Konica Minolta Honda HONDA 1'47.295
13 64 Kousuke AKIYOSHI JPN Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'47.316
14 7 Carlos CHECA SPA Honda LCR HONDA 1'47.334
15 4 Alex BARROS BRA Pramac d'Antin DUCATI 1'47.367
16 6 Makoto TAMADA JPN Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'47.714
17 71 Chris VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'47.914
18 50 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'48.085
19 87 Akira YANAGAWA JPN Kawasaki Racing Team KAWASAKI 1'48.569
20 72 Shinichi ITO JPN Pramac d'Antin DUCATI 1'49.548
21 80 Kurtis ROBERTS USA Team Roberts KR212V 1'50.035