New pole position for Rossi in Czech Republic.
Dani Pedrosa fourth fastest in the 125cc, Fonsi Nieto third and Toni Elias fourth in the 250cc.
In the MotoGP class, Rossi clinched today the pole he missed yesterday for only a few tenths. The most interesting aspect of this afternoon’s timed session was the expected fight for the pole between Rossi, Biaggi and Capirossi. But other riders took part in the battle as well, such as Ukawa, Gibernau and even Nicky Hayden, who surprisingly and showing once again his important evolution in the class, managed to be second fastest during the session, only two tenths behind the pole position. Valentino Rossi was the rider who finally set the best clock, after a highly contended session, where the first nine riders are within less than one second. Nicky Hayden, having found a good rhythm for the race, finished seventh and will be starting tomorrow from the second row of the grid. His constant progression and the performance shown today by the Repsol rider, anticipate a good race for Hayden tomorrow, giving him a key role until the end of the season to help the Repsol Honda Team obtain the overall team title. At this moment, the team standings are lead by the Repsol team with 48 points over the second classified, Team Camel-Pramac Honda Pons.
In the 250cc, both Fonsi and Toni Elias have shown to be in good shape to fight for the victory tomorrow. Fonsi Nieto has been progressively improving his times during the timed session until clocking the third fastest time in the final instants. His team-mate Toni Elias, second fastest in the morning, lost the pole in the final instants due to Anthony West’s crash. The Australian suffered a crash only thirty seconds before the end of the session, just while Elias was lapping in pole time and no other rider was in disposition to react after the attack launched by the Repsol rider. West’s crash caused the red flag to be shown around the track hindering Elias from taking the pole. Despite everything, the Repsol rider and his team are very optimistic with regard to tomorrow. And while the practices ran favourably for Elias and Fonsi, things didn’t work out for Sebastián Porto the way he had expected. Problems with the settings and the red flag hindered Porto from getting a good position on the grid and he will therefore be starting tomorrow from the third row after setting the tenth fastest time. Héctor Faubel, fourteenth and Joan Olivé, twenty-second, didn’t have a good day on the Czech circuit either.
In the 125cc, the timed session didn’t have a good start for Pablo Nieto. The Repsol rider crashed shortly after having improved the time set yesterday by almost a second. But despite the time lost with the incident, Pablo went back on the track setting finally the sixth fastest time. Dani Pedrosa, who had set the fastest time yesterday and spent the session in order to clinch the pole, will start tomorrow from the front row with the fourth fastest time. Héctor Barberá, with some technical problems, could not get a place on the second row and will be starting from the third row after setting the ninth fastest time.
