Rossi on Assen TT pole

From motogp.com

Valentino Rossi will start his quest for a 100th Grand Prix victory from pole position at the Assen circuit on Saturday afternoon, taking the top spot for the Alice TT Assen with a 1:36.025 lap in qualifying on Friday.

Although it is Rossi’s second pole position of 2009, it is also the first time that he has topped a qualifying session this season. His previous pole came courtesy of combined practice times when the grid-deciding session in Japan was cancelled due to rainfall.

“I’m so happy about the qualifying session. This morning we worked a lot on the bike and this afternoon we put it all together,” said the joint World Championship leader. “I have a good pace with the race tires as well, and I’m looking at a few places where we can improve tomorrow."

The Fiat Yamaha rider was trailed by Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, who was less than a tenth of a second slower than the Italian’s hot lap.

Returning to the front row after two races away, Pedrosa took advantage of having this year’s Assen poleman in front of him to grab second on the grid in qualifying. The Repsol Honda rider is looking to end a year-long win drought for both himself and Honda on Saturday, and is feeling much more capable of the task than at his recent home round in Barcelona.

“I’m pleased with my qualifying position today, especially considering that there was quite a lot of traffic on track in the final few minutes,” said Pedrosa, famed for his speedy starts in the premier class. “It’s always good to be on the front row, because then you have the best chance to make a clean getaway, so I’m satisfied with second. I was lucky at the end of the session to have Valentino in front and being behind him helped me a lot to set this lap time.”

Jorge Lorenzo continued his 100 per cent record of front line starts with a time three-tenths down on teammate Rossi’s marker, and the Spaniard made a final push for pole in the closing stages of the session. He is now the only rider to have qualified on the front row for every race of the 2009 season to date, having relegated the only other candidate – Casey Stoner - to fourth place.

“I’m a little disappointed with my last lap. I made some mistakes on a few corners and couldn’t improve my time,” lamented the Fiat Yamaha rider, joint leader of the MotoGP World Championship. “Anyway, we have good pace and we will be trying to work on T4, where we are losing a few tenths at the moment, for the race. If we can do this then we have a chance of fighting for the podium tomorrow.”

Although Stoner had crossed the line with enough time to perform another hot lap, the Australian sat up and opted against a further attempt at pole. Problems with grip had plagued the Ducati Marlboro rider throughout the morning and afternoon sessions, and he had another wobble that left him obviously agitated during the outing.

Colin Edwards once again qualified on the second row after leading the session for a small period of time, alongside another veteran in Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi.

The only crash in the session came from Niccolò Canepa, the Pramac Racing rookie escaping uninjured.

A second consecutive 250cc pole went to Héctor Barberá at the Assen circuit, as the PepeWorld rider took his sixth career top spot with a 1:40.019 on Friday afternoon.

Barberá was just over a tenth of a second speedier than the two riders above him in the overall standings, with Scot Racing man Hiroshi Aoyama and Mapfre Aspar’s Álvaro Bautista both coming close to the front marker on the grid.

Joining the trio on the front row is reigning 250cc World Champion Marco Simoncelli.

While all eyes were on the established names putting in their final hot laps in 125cc qualifying, Ajo Interwetten’s Sandro Cortese snuck out from behind Julián Simón’s Aprilia and onto the first grid spot for the first pole position of his career.

The German had been outside the front two rows with his previous best time, but as the clock ran down he pulled a 1:45.430 lap out of the hat to relegate Simón to second place. Both were on flying laps in the final seconds of the session, knocking Jack&Jones WRB’s Nico Terol down to third in a front row split by just over two-tenths of a second.

MotoGP Qualifying Times
1. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team / Yamaha 1:36.025 (293.080 km/h)
2. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda Team / Honda 1:36.110
3. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team / Yamaha 1:36.393
4. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team / Ducati 1:36.633
5. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 / Yamaha 1:36.760
6. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP / Suzuki 1:36.953
7. Chris VERMEULEN (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP / Suzuki 1:37.194
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda Team / Honda 1:37.237
9. James TOSELAND (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 / Yamaha 1:37.323
10. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP / Honda 1:37.473
11. Alex DE ANGELIS (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini / Honda 1:37.637
12. Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Racing / Ducati 1:37.749
13. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team / Ducati 1:37.759
14. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) Hayate Racing Team / Kawasaki 1:37.948
15. Toni ELIAS (SPA) San Carlo Honda Gresini / Honda 1:38.136
16. Sete GIBERNAU (SPA) Grupo Francisco Hernando / Ducati 1:38.453
17. Niccolo CANEPA (ITA) Pramac Racing / Ducati 1:38.605
18. Yuki TAKAHASHI (JPN) Scot Racing Team MotoGP / Honda 1:38.619
19. Gabor TALMACSI (HUN) Scot Racing Team MotoGP / Honda 1:39.407