Dovizioso scores maiden pole

Added on Saturday, October 2nd, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Andrea Dovizioso scored his first ever MotoGP pole position in the Grand Prix of Japan at Motegi this afternoon, as championship leader Jorge Lorenzo missed out on a front row start.

Following the Repsol Honda rider onto the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s race is Valentino Rossi, with Casey Stoner alongside in third.

After struggling the last few races, reigning World Champion Rossi has found his feet once again this weekend, grasping his strongest starting position since his pole at Le Mans back in May. His FIAT Yamaha teammate Lorenzo just missed out on a front row starting position, giving him his non-front row start all season.

Lorenzo will be sharing the second row of the grid with American riders Colin Edwards and Ben Spies, with the duo securing fifth and sixth starting positions, respectively. Randy De Puniet will head up the third row of the grid, with his LCR Honda machine narrowly out-qualifying Marco Simoncelli for the privilege. Alvaro Bautista and Loris Capirossi will complete the top ten. Nicky Hayden just missed out on the top ten, qualifying eleventh for tomorrow’s race.

Lorenzo’s main championship rival Dani Pedrosa is out of action this weekend, after a fall in free practice yesterday (Friday) cuased him to suffer a fractured left collarbone. After receiving successful surgery on his injury, to fix a titanium plate, he will reportedly remain in hospital for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.

Pos.	Rider	Nation	Team	Time
1	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	1’47.001
2	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Fiat Yamaha Team	1’47.055
3	Casey STONER	AUS	Ducati Team	1’47.105
4	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Fiat Yamaha Team	1’47.206
5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1’47.464
6	Ben SPIES	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1’47.648
7	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	LCR Honda MotoGP	1’47.752
8	Marco SIMONCELLI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1’47.914
9	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	1’48.002
10	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	1’48.068
11	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	1’48.182
12	Marco MELANDRI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1’48.238
13	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Pramac Racing Team	1’48.371
14	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	Interwetten Honda MotoGP	1’48.396
15	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Paginas Amarillas Aspar	1’48.535
16	Mika KALLIO	FIN	Pramac Racing Team	1’49.480
	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team