PEDROSA PIPS LORENZO FOR CZECH GP POLE
2010-08-15 21:51:27 Author: admin Source:
Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa came out on top at the end of a hectic and thrilling Czech Grand Prix qualifying session at Brno yesterday. The Spaniard produced the fastest lap performance, battling to and fro with his rivals, especially compatriot Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo and Yamaha Tech 3's Ben Spies, until he stamped his authority on the session in the final minutes.
Pedrosa’s penultimate lap was his fastest and it put him an impressive three tenths of a second ahead of second quickest Spies who'd start from the MotoGP front row for the first time. Third fastest was MotoGP championship leader Lorenzo, who retained his place on the front row despite a high-speed fall during the closing stages. The Spaniard wasn’t the only rider to fall – reigning champion Valentino Rossi also went down, as did Nicky Hayden.
Pedrosa’s third pole position of 2010 – following his pole performances at Jerez and Mugello – gave an encouraging position for the race win, round ten of this year’s 18-race season.
Casey Stoner led off the second row with Rossi and Pedrosa's team mate Andrea Dovizioso alongside the Ducati man. Dovizioso would prefer to be closer to the front-running lap times but the Italian was satisifed that he had made significant steps forward from his performance here last year.
Colin Edwards, Hayden and rookie Hector Barbera were the three riders on the third row with their qualifying positions of seventh, eighth and ninth respectively. The top ten was completed by Suzuki MotoGP's veteran Loris Capirossi.
Marco Simoncelli and Marco Melandri both, representing the Honda Gresini team, had a difficult session. The duo starts the race from the fourth and fifth rows of the grid. Simoncelli hampered his qualifying performance by sliding off during the first moments of the session, which left him struggling to catch up and struggling to find a good feeling during the remainder of the hour-long outing. Melandri continued to work on the new electronics package the team received at Laguna Seca, but failed to discover to desired engine-braking setting and correct cornering speed.
(Pedrosa receives a Tissot watch for qualifying fastest)
Results
1 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda 1'56.508
2 Ben SPIES Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 0.338
3 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha 0.357
4 Casey STONER Ducati 0.360
5 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 0.551
6 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda 0.609
7 Colin EDWARDS Yamaha Tech 3 0.714
8 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati 1.127
9 Hector BARBERA Aspar 1.452
10 Loris CAPIROSSI Suzuki 1.473
Edited/Images: MSC, Honda
