Stoner storms to Jerez pole

From motogp.com

Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner took his second pole of the 2011 MotoGP season for the Gran Premio bwin de España in an eventful qualifying session which saw many riders involved in crashes. He will be joined on the front row by his team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) and Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing).

The Australian set the fastest time of the weekend with a 1:38.757, which was just 0.158 ahead of his team-mate, who had set the early pace Saturday morning. Stoner was unable to stop his bike in time at turn one and ended up having to have a trip through the gravel trap in the last minutes of qualifying. This however didn't affect him from starting Sunday's race from his 24th pole in the premier class.

"The qualifying result was good but as for using the rest of the session and setting the bike up, we weren't totally happy with what we achieved and lost some time," Stoner said. "We're struggling a little to get the balance of the bike where I want it. We make some improvements in the front and then some in the rear, but never at the same time, which is a little frustrating.

"On my last run of the session I was pushing a little too hard and was a bit late with the brakes, the rear came up and I released the brakes, but I had way too much speed going in there. It was nice just to avoid the air fence."

For Pedrosa it was his seventh straight front row qualifying performance at Jerez.

"To be on the front row is always very important and second is a good place to start the race," he said. "I would like to improve the bike a little bit, especially on the third section of the track, the only place where I lose some tenths. It would help to have better braking and exit of the corners there. It's been tough with the shoulder - in fact this morning I decided to only do a few laps to not stress the arm so much." 

The session was run in cooler conditions compared to Friday with the wind becoming stronger throughout the day. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) was leading the session for the most part, but was unable to match the pace of the Repsol Hondas in front of him, with a deficit of 0.161 behind Stoner's pole lap and just three thousandths off his fellow Spaniard's time.

"I pushed the maximum from my first lap and improved my lap time from this morning," Lorenzo said. "We were one of the few to improve with the tougher conditions when the track was worse. When we put the soft tires in, we managed to make a 1:38.9 lap, which is a good time and we were only some milliseconds away from Dani Pedrosa and less than two tenths from Casey Stoner."

Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) will head the second row of the grid in fourth place, despite crashing at turn one in the last five minutes of the session. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) will start in fifth place and continued to set times to place him as third fastest Honda, with Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso sixth.

Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) crashed at turn five in the final 10 minutes of qualifying but finished as the top Ducati rider in seventh position, 1.135 behind the pole position lap.

Veteran Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), who scored a rostrum finish here in 2007, will start in eighth position after a fall in the dying moments of qualifying which he accepted with a bow to the crowd. His team-mate at Monster Yamaha Tech 3, Cal Crutchlow was one place behind in ninth in his first qualifying session at the Andalucian circuit.

There was a high speed crash for Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) when he went off in the Àlex Crivillé corner and got knocked by his bike during the accident. There were initial concerns for his left leg immediately after the accident but he was OK to continue after jumping onto his second bike. The Japanese rider took the final spot in the top 10.

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) didn't have the best of starts to his one hour qualifying session after a nasty tumble into turn eight when he lost the front and finished in the gravel. The Italian was able to make it back to the pits to jump on his spare bike and finished outside the top 10 in 12th place.

Nicky Hayden got the edge on his team-mate Rossi and will start on the fourth row alongside the Italian in 11th place. John Hopkins (Rizla Suzuki) replacing the injured Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) on his return to MotoGP secured 14th place, ahead of Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing), Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing) and Toni Elías (LCR Honda).

In a fiercely contested qualifying session for the Moto2 Gran Premio bwin de España, it was Championship leader Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) who set the pace and took his second consecutive pole of the season. Joining him on the front row are Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing) and Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2).

The German rider claimed only his second pole in Moto2 and will be trying replicate his victory from Qatar. If he can take the 25 points on Sunday, he will match his father Helmut by winning the Jerez race in the intermediate class. The Viessmann Kiefer Racing rider's margin over Takahashi was 0.282 and 0.582 over Luthi.

Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany) set his first pole of the 2011 season for the 125cc Gran Premio bwin de España. Nicolas Terol (Bankia Aspar) was just behind and ahead of his team-mate Héctor Faubel (Bankia Aspar) in third.

MotoGP Qualifying Results
1. Casey STONER (AUS) Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:38.757 
2. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:38.915
3. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 1:38.918
4. Ben SPIES (USA) Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 1:39.390
5. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1:39.486
6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:39.709
7. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) Pramac Racing Team Ducati 1:39.892
8. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1:39.895
9. Cal CRUTCHLOW (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1:40.019
10. Hiroshi AOYAMA (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1:40.168
11. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati Team Ducati 1:40.175
12. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Ducati Team Ducati 1:40.185
13. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP Ducati 1:40.217
14. John HOPKINS (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1:40.310
15. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Pramac Racing Team Ducati 1:40.523
16. Karel ABRAHAM (CZE) Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 1:40.601
17. Toni ELIAS (SPA) LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 1:41.114