Dani Pedrosa takes pole position for the Spanish MotoGP
There was delight for the locals as Dani Pedrosa delighted the home crowd at Jerez to take pole position for the Spanish MotoGP with his compatriot Jorge Lorenzo hot on his tail in second place.
Pedrosa has been having technical problems with his Honda but recorded the fastest time with a lap of one minute 39.202 seconds.
The six quickest riders were separated by less than half a second in a thrilling qualifying session with Lorenzo on a Yamaha and Australian Casey Stoner on a Ducati completing the front row of the grid.
World champion Valentino Rossi, who has been struggling with a bruised shoulder, headed the second row along with American Nicky Hayden and Frenchman Randy De Puniet.
Rossi won the opening race of the season in Qatar with the second in Japan being postponed due to the flight ban caused by the volcanic ash from Iceland.
Stoner's team mate Hayden did well to come back after a crash during practice earlier in the day.
Pedrosa has been having technical problems with his Honda but recorded the fastest time with a lap of one minute 39.202 seconds.
After the qualifying session he explained his run "We are having a lot of problems. The bike is shaking all the time. This problem really doesn't matter a lot to me but tomorrow race we hope to do this afternoon a little improvement and we see if we can do a great race,"
Shoya Tomizawa was fastest in the revamped 250cc category, now named Moto2 class. The Japanese, who won the first race of the season in Qatar, clocked 1:44.372 with Julian Simon of Spain a fraction behind in second place on a RSV bike, only two thousands of a second separating them. Another Spaniard, Toni Elias, will start third on the grid.
Spain also dominated the 125cc session with Marc Marquez securing pole in 1:46.829 followed by compatriots Pol Espargaro in second and Efren Vazquez third, all on Derbis.
Spanish MotoGP qualifying result:
1. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 1 min 39.202 secs
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 1:39.487
3. Casey Stoner (Australia) Ducati 1:39.511
4. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 1:39.558
5. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Ducati 1:39.560
6. Randy de Puniet (France) Honda 1:39.591
7. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Yamaha 1:39.970
8. Ben Spies (U.S.) Yamaha 1:39.989
9. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda 1:40.021
10. Marco Melandri (Italy) Honda 1:40.027
125cc qualifying round result:
1. Marc Marquez (Spain) Derbi 1 min 46.829 secs
2. Pol Espargaro (Spain) Derbi 1:46.933
3. Efren Vazquez (Spain) Derbi 1:47.275
4. Esteve Rabat (Spain) Aprilia 1:47.379
5. Nicolas Terol (Spain) Aprilia 1:47.443
6. Sandro Cortese (Germany) Derbi 1:47.645
7. Bradley Smith (Britain) Aprilia 1:47.753
8. Danny Webb (Britain) Aprilia 1:48.164
9. Alberto Moncayo (Spain) Aprilia 1:48.700
10. Randy Krummenacher (Switzerland) Aprilia 1:48.727
Spanish Grand Prix Moto2 qualification result:
1. Shoya Tomizawa (Japan) Suter 1 min 44.372 secs
2. Julian Simon (Spain) RSV 1:44.374
3. Toni Elias (Spain) Moriwaki 1:44.424
4. Yuki Takahashi (Japan) Tech 3 1:44.463
5. Thomas Luethi (Switzerland) Moriwaki 1:44.573
6. Stefan Bradl (Germany) Suter 1:44.631
7. Gabor Talmacsi (Hungary) Speed Up 1:44.661
8. Sergio Gadea (Spain) Pons Kalex 1:44.694
9. Kenny Noyes (U.S.) Promoharris 1:44.712
10. Simone Corsi (Italy) Motobi 1:44.722
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