Stoner Takes Record 10th Pole At Motegi

Casey Stoner set a new record for the MotoGP era with his tenth pole of the season ahead of the Gran Prix of Japan. Jorge Lorenzo will start in second ahead of Stoner's Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, with Dani Pedrosa in fourth.

Casey Stoner pulled out a stunning late lap to take his 10th pole position of the season in Japan for tomorrow’s race at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit. The Repsol Honda rider set a time of 1’45.267, two tenths quicker than pole position challenger Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing, who returns to the front row for the 11th time this season. The Spaniard won the MotoGP race here in 2009, though last year just missed out on a podium finish with a fourth place.
 
Last year’s pole sitter Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) qualified in third after setting a lap of 1’45.791, pushing out team mate Dani Pedrosa who himself had occupied the top spot before losing it to Lorenzo and finally Stoner.
 
A tenth of a second separated Pedrosa and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies, who fought his way back into contention after suffered a bout of stomach illness which had seen the American pull out of second practice session after only 5 laps on Friday. Spies was followed by Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team), who despite crashing at turn 5 at the halfway point of qualifying, starts from the second row after posting his best lap upon his return to the track on the replacement bike.

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) put in a time just over one second off the pole position time to start from the head of the third row. Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) followed the Italian with a 1’46.586 with Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) ninth behind his compatriot to take the last spot on row three.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) rider took the tenth spot. Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) qualifying 11th at his home race, while Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), who finished 5th here last year, ran off into the gravel and suffered a fall within the first 15 minutes, but was able to rejoin the session to qualify 14th.

Motegi qualifying times:

1) Casey Stoner (Aus) Repsol Honda 1'45.267
2) Jorge Lorenzo (Spa) Yamaha 1'45.523
3) Andrea Dovizioso (Ita) Repsol Honda 1'45.791
4) Dani Pedrosa (Spa) Repsol Honda 1'45.966
5) Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha 1'46.042
6) Marco Simoncelli (Ita) Gresini Honda 1'46.211
7) Valentino Rossi (Ita) Ducati 1'46.467
8) Alvaro Bautista (Spa) Suzuki 1'46.586
9) Hector Barbera (Spa) Aspar Ducati 1'46.694
10) Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati 1'46.763
12) Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'46.818