Stoner on pole for home GP

From motogp.com

Casey Stoner took his third pole position of the season with the best time in qualification for the Iveco Australian Grand Prix of 1:30.107 on Saturday, as he secured top spot on the starting grid at Phillip Island for the third consecutive season.

The Ducati Team rider, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Saturday, put in a strong display in qualifying to finish over six-tenths of a second clear of closest rival Jorge Lorenzo.

It was the Australian rider’s 25th pole position of his Grand Prix career and continued his impressive form on his home circuit, at which he has won for the past three seasons having started from pole for the previous two years.

“I always seem to celebrate my birthday here at Phillip Island but I guess there are worse places to be,” said Stoner. “We have had virtually every single condition you could imagine thrown at us this weekend so we'll have to wait and see what happens tomorrow before we make any decisions on set-up but so far I think we have done the best possible job in every condition.”

World Champion Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) was the only rider able to get within a second of Stoner, as the Spaniard joined his rival under the 1:31 barrier. Lorenzo briefly led the session with his time of 1:30.775 but eventually had to settle for second on the grid.

"These conditions were really risky because it was so cold and also incredibly windy. It was hard to stay on the bike sometimes,” said Lorenzo after securing his 15th front-row start of the campaign. “I'm happy with my race pace which is unusual for me here because I've never been so strong in MotoGP at this track, but I think we've done a good job. I wanted pole today but the weather and Casey stopped me – he is so quick here. We have the second best time so it is okay and I am feeling very calm after last weekend."

Achieving his third front-row starting position of the season Ben Spies set the third best time of the session, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider closing out the 60-minute run at 1.279 secs. off the pole time of Stoner.

“I'm really happy to be on the front row again but a little bit surprised," Spies said. "I was really happy with my pace and the lap times earlier in the session but each time I tried to go quicker in the last part I'd have spots of rain on my visor. I'd warm up the tires and see nothing but as soon as I'd push going into the first corner to start a fast lap, I was getting a lot of rain on my visor. I didn't want to take a big risk when I knew I was already pretty close to the front row."

Hot on the heels of the American and registering a best qualification of the season to date was rookie Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini), at just 16-thousandths of a second behind in fourth.

Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was a similar distance (0.013 secs.) further back in fifth, with Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) taking sixth position in the session and crashing at turn four towards the end.

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) will head up the third row after setting the seventh fastest time, with Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) failing to overcome the issues he experienced in both practice sessions and qualifying in eighth, which is his worst starting grid position of the season to date.

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini) completed the top 10.

The recovering Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) qualified in 15th position as he prepares for his first race back after missing the last two rounds, while Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) both crashed during the session and qualified in 16th and 17th positions respectively.

Capirossi sustained a pulled adductor of the left leg in his fall which has placed his participation in the race in doubt.

Inside the final five minutes spots of rain were significant enough to effectively mark the end of the session, as the riders abandoned any further attempts at improving their times.

Alex de Angelis’ first pole position of the 2010 season came at Phillip Island on Saturday as the JiR Moto2 rider topped qualifying with a final lap of 1:35.148. That saw him finish the session 0.230 secs. ahead of Scott Redding, who had led until the final moments.

The Marc VDS Racing Team rider came close once more to securing his first-ever pole but eventually ended in second position, with his best effort of 1:35.378 ensuring a fifth front-row start in six races.

Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) equalled his best qualification of the season by setting the third-best time, with Mike di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar) getting onto the front row for the first time in 2010.

Marc Márquez’s 11th pole position of the 125cc World Championship season came at Phillip Island on Saturday as the Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider secured top spot on the starting grid for Sunday’s race for the fourth consecutive round.

The 17-year-old, who leads the Championship by three points ahead of Nico Terol going into this round, topped the timesheet by an impressive 0.616 secs. with a best lap of 1:38.236 and became the first rider to achieve 11 poles in a single season in the 125cc class.

Following him onto the front row was team-mate Sandro Cortese, with the Avant Mitsubishi Ajo rider slotting in ahead of Pol Espargaró (Tuenti Racing), who was the final rider under the 1:39 barrier with a time of 1:38.991. Bancaja Aspar rider Terol secured the fourth and final position on the front line and was also the final rider to get within a second of Márquez’s time.

MotoGP Qualifying Results
1. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati 1:30.107
2. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha 1:30.775
3. Ben SPIES (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 1:31.386
4. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda 1:31.402
5. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 1:31.415
6. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati 1:31.530
7. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda 1:31.554
8. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha 1:31.627
9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda 1:32.018
10. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda 1:32.367
11. Aleix ESPARGARO (SPA) Pramac Ducati 1:32.542
12. Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Ducati 1:32.816
13. Hiroshi AOYAMA (JPN) Interwetten Honda 1:33.190
14. Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki 1:33.224
15. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda 1:33.384
16. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 1:33.390
17. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki 1:34.269