Lorenzo nips Stoner for pole

From motogp.com

The fans at Mugello were treated to a great battle in MotoGP qualifying on Saturday afternoon with Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo upstaging his team-mate Valentino Rossi on the World Champion’s home track, with the Spaniard taking pole and the Italian off the front row.

In brilliant sunshine at the Gran Premio d’Italia Alice four riders fought for pole right at the death with Lorenzo eventually emerging on top, courtesy of a 1:48.987 on the 29th of his 30 laps, beating Casey Stoner by a tight margin (0.021 secs.)

“During the session we had some problems in T4 and we still need to try to improve a bit in that section, but I am fast with both types of tire and in the end I was able to do one very fast lap,” said the Spaniard at the end of the hour-long GP run.

Reflecting on Saturday’s results in general the 22-year-old added, “I feel satisfied with the pole position. It is important to be on the front row and get a good start here. We have good pace on the harder (race) tires and it looks like we will have the chance to fight for the podium and maybe the victory.”

Ducati star Stoner will be satisfied to have placed himself on the front row and given his practice performances should be in contention for victory on Sunday.

“We had a great free practice session this morning despite the crash and I was very comfortable with the bike, so I was optimistic about this afternoon," Stoner said. "Unfortunately as we picked up the pace in the afternoon we found some problems with the front and I couldn’t make the bike turn as I wanted it to. You spend a lot of time on the edge of the tire through the long corners at this circuit and that is where we’re losing time. We’ll see if we can change a couple of things and improve the bike before the warm-up tomorrow."

Just behind Stoner on the grid will be his former team-mate Loris Capirossi who surged to provisional pole in the final minutes on his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R before eventually ending up third.

“It has been a fantastic day today, especially because I was a bit angry yesterday and we had a really good meeting with all the team and decided to change a lot of things on the bike," Capirossi said. "Stuart [Shenton] is so clever because he made the right modifications to the GSV-R and from first thing this morning it was working well. Our target is to always try and do our best, but this front row is a great feeling for us."

Rossi, therefore, sits in the unfamiliar territory of the second row at a circuit where he has won the last seven MotoGP races and he will nonetheless expect to be in the podium fight once again on Sunday. It will be his first non-front row start at Mugello in MotoGP.

An excellent showing from the much improved Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) saw him qualify as the top Honda representative, with Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards just behind him by a 0.048-sec. fraction.

Repsol Honda’s factory Honda pairing of Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa will be disappointed to have qualified on the third row, meanwhile. An off-colour Pedrosa spent much of the session towards the bottom of the timesheet and he will need one of his trademark strong starts in Sunday’s race in order to get amongst the front-runners and stay in touch in the title race.

Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini) took a tumble when on a fast lap at the end of the practice and had to settle for ninth place, with fellow Honda rider Yuki Takahashi (Scot Racing) completing the top 10.

World Champion Marco Simoncelli had to settle for second place in the 250cc qualifying session at Mugello on Saturday, as he was unable to prevent title rival Álvaro Bautista from taking pole.

Spanish competitor Bautista secured his third pole position start of 2009 with a 1:52.804 on his penultimate lap, which put him just 0.014 secs. ahead of Metis Gilera rider Simoncelli.

Bancaja Aspar rider Bradley Smith set a new pole record in 125cc qualifying at Mugello on Saturday afternoon, his 1:58.134 hot lap beating Lukas Pesek’s record from 2006 by a 0.068-sec. margin.

Sturla Fagerhaug won a perfectly judged race to claim his second victory of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup season. The 17-year-old Norwegian crossed the line just 0.266 secs. ahead of 16-year-old Czech Jakub Kornfeil after the pair had played cat and mouse over the last laps.

MotoGP Qualifying Results
1. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1:48.987 (338.983 km/h)
2. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 1:49.008
3. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1:49.121
4. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1:49.148
5. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 1:49.499
6. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1:49.547
7. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:49.648
8. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:50.073
9. Toni ELIAS (SPA) San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1:50.078
10. Yuki TAKAHASHI (JPN) Scot Racing Team MotoGP Honda 1:50.305
11. Chris VERMEULEN (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1:50.405
12. Alex DE ANGELIS (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1:50.448
13. Niccolo CANEPA (ITA) Pramac Racing Ducati 1:50.528
14. James TOSELAND (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1:50.537
15. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) Hayate Racing Team Kawasaki 1:50.710
16. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 1:50.924
17. Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Racing Ducati 1:51.008