Stoner takes fourth straight pole

From motogp.com

Casey Stoner broke the pole position record and was nearly four-tenths faster than his nearest rival on Saturday afternoon, taking his fourth consecutive pole position.

The reigning MotoGP World Champion – chasing his third victory in a row - set the fastest time ever recorded at the Sachsenring with a 1:21.067 lap of the German circuit. Stoner had previously gone round lower than the existing record using race tires on Friday.

Stoner had done enough to confirm his place at the head of the grid with over 15 minutes remaining in the qualifying session, but further left his mark with an audacious final hot lap that further lowered his time by nearly three-tenths of a second. Last year he suffered from a tire problem that ruled him out of the running for victory, but it appears that it will take something special to defeat the Australian on Sunday afternoon.

"Qualifying never used to be a strong point of ours but now we seem to be turning it into one and that is a credit to the team, but also to Bridgestone, who have worked relentlessly on this aspect," Stoner said. "We have to be thankful to them for that and to have enjoyed four consecutive pole positions together is fantastic for everybody.

"It has been a good weekend so far but not perfect because of the crash yesterday, which dented my confidence a little bit. The feeling with the front through that corner was good today though, which means I could get on the attack again today. I was struggling a little bit with the rear spinning up in T4 and I didn't expect my final lap to be enough for pole but we made up enough time in T3 to pull it off and I'm delighted."

Many riders looked to be in a position to push the Ducati Marlboro rider when the qualifying rubber was fitted, although none were able to match his pace on the final section of the tight Sachsenring circuit.

The closest to doing so was World Championship leader and 2007 race winner Dani Pedrosa, some 0.353 down on Stoner´s time. The Repsol Honda rider had experienced problems with his first selection of qualifying tires, and several late laps saw Pedrosa falling short with his attempts at a second pole position of the season.

Back on the front row after four races away, Tech 3 Yamaha´s Colin Edwards emerged from the hour-long session as the third quickest rider. The `Texan Tornado´ was just under a tenth of a second from Pedrosa, and was the fastest Yamaha rider once again with the satellite M1.

Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo will start from the same row on the grid for the first time since their arrival in the premier class, having battled at Sachsenring in the 250cc class in the past. The final spot on the second line went to LCR Honda´s Randy de Puniet.

Fiat Yamaha rider and World Championship challenger Valentino Rossi heads the third row, unable to find the second necessary to join up with the frontliners. Nicky Hayden and Shinya Nakano line up alongside the Italian.

Qualifying Results
1. C. STONER AUS (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1:21.067
2. D. PEDROSA SPA (Repsol Honda Team) +0.353
3. C. EDWARDS USA (Tech 3 Yamaha) +0.452
4. A. DOVIZIOSO ITA (JiR Team Scot MotoGP) +0.589
5. J. LORENZO SPA (Fiat Yamaha Team) +0.728
6. R. DE PUNIET FRA (LCR Honda MotoGP) +0.754
7. V. ROSSI ITA (Fiat Yamaha Team) +0.778
8. N. HAYDEN USA (Repsol Honda Team) +0.809
9. S. NAKANO JPN (San Carlo Honda Gresini) +0.853
10. A. DE ANGELIS RSM (San Carlo Honda Gresini) +0.910
11. J. TOSELAND GBR (Tech 3 Yamaha) +1.059
12. T. ELIAS SPA (Alice Team) +1.189
13. L. CAPIROSSI ITA (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +1.475
14. C. VERMEULEN AUS (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +1.534
15. S. GUINTOLI FRA (Alice Team) +1.871
16. M. MELANDRI ITA (Ducati Marlboro Team) +2.064
17. A. WEST AUS (Kawasaki Racing Team) +2.091