Stoner scores Phillip Island pole

Added on Saturday, October 15th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Casey Stoner launched to another pole position at his home race today, as MotoGP visits Phillip Island for round 16 of the 2011 championship.

The fastest time in practice led Stoner towards another fastest time as the qualifying hour approached. Armed with a time of 1m29.975 seconds, Stoner secure another pole positions start, ahead of his main championship challenger Jorge Lorenzo.

Lorenzo again tried to dismount Stoner from his familiar throne at the head of the field, but to no avail. Marco Simoncelli will join the title challengers on the front row of the grid on his San Carlo Honda Gresini machine.

Alvaro Bautista toured the Phillipe Island circuit to secure the 4th fastest time in today’s qualifying session, ahead of fifth placed Andrea Dovizioso. A brief spell as the third fastest rider saw Nicky Hayden soon edged down the order to sixth place on his Ducati machine, to edge out Ben Spies and previous race winner Dani Pedrosa for the position.

Colin Edwards and Loris Capirossi secured the final available positions in the top ten in ninth and tenth, respectively. Randy De Puniet narrowly missed out on a top ten position to set the eleventh fastest lap, ahead of twelfth placed Hiroshi Aoyama. Valentino Rossi led Cal Crutchlow to thirteenth place, whilst Karel Abraham and Toni Elias completed the line-up. Damian Cudlin failed to secure a time within 107 percent of the pole time, however his time in practice was enough to allow him to enter the race tomorrow.

Qualifying Positions, MotoGP, Phillip Island:

Pos.	Rider	Nation	Team	Time
1	Casey STONER	AUS	Repsol Honda Team	1’29.975
2	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	1’30.448
3	Marco SIMONCELLI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1’30.599
4	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	1’30.714
5	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	1’30.780
6	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	1’30.792
7	Ben SPIES	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	1’30.835
8	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	1’30.871
9	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1’31.237
10	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Pramac Racing Team	1’31.583
11	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Pramac Racing Team	1’31.635
12	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1’31.889
13	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	1’31.980
14	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1’32.023
15	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	1’32.054
16	Toni ELIAS	SPA	LCR Honda MotoGP	1’32.503
	Damian CUDLIN	AUS	Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP	1’36.666