A fantastic one hour MotoGP qualifying session just whetted the appetite for the 26 lap Dutch TT at Assen tomorrow afternoon. The Championship chasing trio of Valentino Rossi. Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner decimated the lap record round the legendary 2.80 mile track in the north of Holland as they fought for pole position.
In a hectic last couple of minutes it was World Champion Stoner riding the Marlboro Ducati who grabbed his third successive pole position but only after a tremendous fight by first Rossi and then by Pedrosa in the very last few seconds. Riding the Repsol Honda ,Pedrosa almost took pole on his very last lap but had to settle for second and is joined on the front row by Championship leader Valentino Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha. The trio were separated by just over one tenth of a second to set up a tremendous battle tomorrow.
The 2006 Assen winner Nicky Hayden heads the second row where he’s joined by Frenchman Randy De Puniet and American Colin Edwards with triple Assen winner Jorge Lorenzo, last year’s pole setter Chris Vermeulen and Shinya Nakano completing the third row.
Two riders will miss the race. John Hopkins was lucky to escape with a broken left ankle after an horrendous looking 150 mph crash from his Kawasaki while Loris Capirossi has been ruled out after lacerating his right forearm when he crashed the Rizla Suzuki on Friday afternoon.
Toseland Disappointed by Thirteenth It was a tough session for Yorkshireman James Toseland who finally qualified 13th riding the Tech 3 Yamaha. He struggled with set-up in the dry qualifying session after finishing an impressive fourth in the damp morning practice.
“ I’m disappointed not to have done better but it was the best I could do with the set-up we had,” explained the 27 year old British star.” For the last few races I’ve been hoping for dry weather and then today I put in better times in the wet than the dry. I’m just trying to focus on the bike set-up. It’s still my debut season so I can’t expect to be on the podium right from the outset.”
Smith & Redding Well Set With Thursdays Times Heavy overnight rain and then strong winds meant the leading 125 cc riders could not improve on their Thursday qualifying times in this afternoon’s second session resulting in a front row start from Bradley Smith and a sixth place start for Scott Redding.
It was another amazing day for 15 year old Redding who crashed without injury in the morning drizzle and then set the fastest time in the afternoon qualifying riding the Blusens Aprilia. Seventeen year old Smith’s qualifying time yesterday on the Polaris World Aprilia means he will start from second place alongside pole setter Simone Corsi in the 22 lap race.
Danny Webb has been receiving laser treatment on the right collarbone he broke in Donington and hopes to be fit for the German Grand Prix in two weeks time.
Ulsterman Eugene Laverty improved his 250 cc lap times by three tenths of one second by will still start from 20th place in the 24 lap race.
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