For the fourth consecutive race the Repsol rider Dani Pedrosa set the best time in the definitive timed MotoGP session today at lunchtime. This is his fifth pole this season. It was a hard fought session where he also got the final set up for tomorrow`s race. Pedrosa set the provisional pole 10 minutes from the end with his first rear classification tyre. Immediately Casey Stoner snatched first position from him, and even Randy De Puniet went faster than the Spaniard.
However on his second and final attempt with the other classification tyre, the Repsol Honda Team rider stopped the clock at 1 minute 31 and 517 thousandths of a second, 86 thousandths faster than Stoner, who will be second on the grid.
The accident involving Valentino Rossi in the timed session, he has some fractures on his right hand, means that Dani Pedrosa can be this year`s runner-up as the Italian may not race tomorrow – second at the moment 24 points ahead of the Repsol rider – in tomorrow`s Valencia Grand Prix.
To round off a great day for the Repsol Honda Team in Valencia, the third rider on the front row of the grid will be the American Nicky Hayden, who after free practice where he had difficulties deciding on the set up to use on his Honda RC212V, finally put in a good performance using his classification tyres.In 250cc, the Japanese rider Shuhei Aoyama fell badly in the timed session when there were 10 minutes or so left. Aoyama lost control of his bike and fell at high speed but fortunately was uninjured. He returned to the pits to get on his second bike but was unable to improve his time. He is 12th on the grid and starts on the fourth row in the race tomorrow.
His teammate Simón set the 7th best time and is on the second row. On his final attempt to set a fastest lap Simón slightly misjudged the line on a curve and this meant he lost a little time. In 125cc things did not go too well for the Repsol Honda Team riders.
Esteve Rabat could do no better than 11th position, as he had problems with the set up in both the free practice in the morning, 13th, as well as in the afternoon. His teammate Bradley Smith, will start one place behind him on the grid, and he is also disappointed with how practice went today. The Repsol rider was 4th in the morning but a defective tyre made him lose a lot of time in the afternoon. When he changed it and was out on the track again he only had six minutes to try and improve his time.
