Ben Spies will start a MotoGP race from pole position for the first time on Sunday after he laid down a fantastic hot lap in qualifying for the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix.

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rookie posted a best time of 1’40.105 on his final flying lap to delight the home crowd and mark another highlight in what has already been an eventful weekend following confirmation of his factory ride for 2011. The Texan celebrates a first pole after already having tasted podium champagne at Silverstone in June in what is quickly becoming an impressive debut season in the premier class of motorcycle racing.

Spies was 0.220s quicker than Championship leader and last year’s race winner Jorge Lorenzo who took his Fiat Yamaha M1 machine round in the second fastest time, and there was further joy for the American fans as Nicky Hayden took his first Ducati front-row place with third. Hayden was just a hundredth of a second behind Lorenzo on the timesheet in a typically action-packed and frantic hour-long session.

Riders who were quick in the morning session found the going tough as the temperature soared and grip levels decreased, with Andrea Dovizioso holding top spot briefly before his best time of 1’40.559 eventually placed him fourth on the starting grid, with his Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa fifth just under eight-hundredths further back. A visibly frustrated Casey Stoner, who had been fastest in both free practice sessions, could only qualify in sixth as he lapped 0.559s off the pace of Spies on his Ducati Desmosedici GP10.

The third row will be headed up by Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) with the Italian left bewildered but uninjured when he fell at turn six with little over five minutes to go – his second fall of the day following an earlier one in practice. The reigning World Champion has struggled to match the speed of the front-runners this weekend and will hope to find some improvements with his crew overnight.

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) also had a crash in the final stages of the session but managed to secure eighth place, equalling his best qualification so far this season, with Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) completing the top ten.

Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team) was 13th in his first qualifying practice since returning from injury, whilst Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing) had a fall at turn 13 and subsequently qualified in 14th.

MOTO2
Julián Simón achieved his first Moto2 pole at Indianapolis on Saturday with a late surge in qualifying, posting a best time of 1’46.139 on his final lap to shoot to top spot on the starting grid for Sunday’s race.

Scott Redding had looked on course to convert his dominance of both practice sessions into a first ever World Championship pole, but his Marc VDS team-mate Héctor Faubel overtook him with a fantastic lap that moved him to the top.

However, Simón eventually secured pole, 0.148s ahead of Faubel and with Redding just a further 0.047s down on his Spanish colleague. Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2) completed the front row in fourth place.

It was a tight affair on the second row with Anthony West (MZ Racing) taking fifth, just three-thousandths of a second ahead of Championship leader Toni Elías (Gresini Racing) who had a fall at turn six with ten minutes to go and climbed straight back on his bike. Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT Singha-SAG) and Sergio Gadea (Tenerife 40 Pons) were seventh and eight respectively.

There were falls in the session for Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) – 26th – and Fonsi Nieto (G22 Holiday Gym) – 12th – who both had to go to the medical centre for attention, whilst Raffaele de Rosa (Tech 3 Racing) escaped such misfortune when he crashed, eventually qualifying in tenth.

Yusuke Teshima (JiR Moto2), who had a big crash in the morning practice session, was on track after suffering a bruised left foot and qualified 37th.

125CC
Marc Márquez set an ominous challenge for his rivals as he set a new 125cc pole position record in qualifying for Sunday’s race at Indianapolis, taking over a second off Julián Simón’s 2009 record. The Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider’s effort of 1’48.124 left him almost half a second clear of the rest of the field as he prepared to attempt to extend his Championship lead in Sunday’s race.

In second place was Nico Terol (Bancaja Aspar), whose best lap was 0.479s off that of Márquez’s, with Terol’s team-mate Bradley Smith third at a further 0.423s off his colleague. Sandro Cortese’s solid form from practice carried through as he took the final spot on the front row.

Heading up the second row of the grid will be last year’s race winner Pol Espargaró, who failed to qualify on the front row for the first time this season. The Tuenti Racing rider was 1.540s off title rival Márquez as he experienced a difficult session, sliding off on his Derbi machine early on but avoiding injury. His team-mate Efrén Vázquez, Luis Salom (Stipa-Molenaar Racing), and Johann Zarco (WTR San Marino Team) will complete the second row.

Tomoyoshi Koyama (Racing Team Germany) and Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX) finished inside the top ten, with Danny Webb (Andalucia Cajasol) missing much of the session due to an early crash but still managing to qualify in 11th. Luca Marconi (Team Ongetta) suffered mechanical issues early in the session and Zarco had a fall towards the end, as did rookie Jakub Kornfeil (Racing Team Germany). Girlracer magazine

Worth Checking -  Superbike news - Motogp news

• Add New
• Search

Comments (0)

Write comment

Your Contact Details:

Name:

Email: do not notifynotify

Website:

Comment:

Title:

UBBCode:    ' />     -color-aquablackbluefuchsiagraygreenlimemaroonnavyolivepurpleredsilvertealwhiteyellow -size-tinysmallmediumlargehuge

Message:

Security

Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

Powered by !JoomlaComment 4.0 beta1

!joomlacomment 4.0 Copyright (C) 2009 Compojoom.com . All rights reserved."