Bautista on Qatar 250 pole

From motogp.com

Spaniard Álvaro Bautista wants to fight hard for the 250cc World title this year and he will start the first race of 2009 in the quarter litre class in pole position, while the current World Champion Marco Simoncelli misses out due to injury.

After rain delayed the start of the 250cc qualifying practice, Bautista took full advantage of Simoncelli’s absence, registering a best effort of 2:00.677 right at the end of the session to beat his rivals.

The late finish saw the 250cc riders round off the evening’s action at 1:15am local time in the Arabian desert, with Bautista heading the grid despite a late challenge from Scot Racing Team’s Hiroshi Aoyama who was second by a 0.1 sec. gap.

Also on the front row are Bautista’s new Mapfre Aspar team-mate Mike di Meglio (on his 250cc debut as 125cc World Champion) and Pepe World Team’s Héctor Barberá, on the comeback trail from a serious back injury.

Row two is filled by Héctor Faubel (Valencia C.F. – Honda SAG), another 250cc debutant Gabor Talmacsi (Balaton Racing Team), last year’s Qatar race winner Mattia Pasini (Team Toth Aprilia) and Alex Debon (Aeroport Castelló-Blusens).