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posted April 29, 2006 07:30 AM
Vermeulen takes maiden pole in rain-sodden Turkey
 Riders, teams and spectators were joined this morning by the unwelcome presence of rain at the Istanbul Park Circuit in Turkey. Almost simultaneously starting to fall as the 125cc riders took to the track for their opening practice at 9am local time, the non-stop downpour guaranteed that the day would be unpredictable as the wet weather served as the great equaliser between bikes.
MotoGP rookie Chris Vermeulen used the adverse conditions to his advantage, putting in fast laps at the midway stage and riding with control and poise for his first ever MotoGP pole position. After a problematic race in Qatar, the Rizla Suzuki rider is in a strong position to place well in Sunday's race. His quickest lap of 2'04.617 was obviously much slower than yesterday's free practice times in the dry, but surprisingly it was also slower than both the 250cc and 125cc pole position times which were posted yesterday afternoon.
The young Australian didn't have it easy though. In front of a respectable audience in the Turkish grandstands, American Nicky Hayden battled hard for the top spot throughout the last half hour. In the closing moments of the session, the Repsol Honda rider was seemingly on course to take the lead with both he and Vermeulen on hot laps. However it wasn't to be for the 'Kentucky Kid', as he ran off the track on his way to claiming pole, much to his obvious annoyance.
Sete Gibernau also made a late surge. His final lap of the Istanbul Park track resulted in him demoting his team-mate Loris Capirossi to fourth, with both Ducatis having opened the day well as the two fastest riders in free practice.
To add to Suzuki's joy, John Hopkins' steady run ensured that both of their riders will start tomorrow on the front two rows, where he will be joined by Randy de Puniet, one of only two riders to remain without points so far this season. LCR Honda's sole rider Casey Stoner suffered two crashes during free practice as the weather hindered his final chance of becoming MotoGP's youngest race winner tomorrow.
Shinya Nakano clocked the eighth fastest time of the qualifying session, ahead of Americans Colin Edwards and Kenny Roberts Jr. Edwards suffered a bruised left shoulder after falling in the morning.
World Champion Valentino Rossi is still yet to earn a pole position in 2006, and as in Jerez will start the race off the front rows of the grid having qualified in eleventh.
250cc
Jorge Lorenzo's 1'57.841 lap from yesterday's dry session was enough to give the Spaniard pole position for tomorrow's 250cc Grand Prix of Turkey. The Fortuna Aprilia rider took the front spot just over a second ahead of nearest rival Alex de Angelis, with Andrea Dovizioso completing the front row. In today's second qualifying session the Spaniard crashed early on without any lasting ill-effects.
Dovizioso's team-mate Yuki Takahashi was fourth, ahead of Hector Barbera and Hiroshi Aoyama. Marco Simoncelli, Sylvain Guintoli, Sebas Porto and Jakub Smrz completed the top ten.
125cc
Alvaro Bautista will line up tomorrow on pole position for the 125cc Grand Prix of Turkey. The Spaniard is chasing his third consecutive win of the season, and his time from yesterday was enough to put him first on the grid in a session where nobody improved their position.
Alongside Bautista on row 1 will be Mattia Pasini, Simone Corse and Hector Faubel, with Mika Kallio and Gabor Talmacsi completing the top six.
Aleix Espargaró and Alexis Masbou both slid along the final turn in tandem, a few minutes after the corner had claimed Julian Simon. The final moments of the session saw Robert Muresan and Vincent Braillard taking a trip into the gravel.
1st - Chris Vermeulen: 2'04.617
"We had some problems in Qatar, but this pole position has given us a lot of confidence. I was able to go really fast in the rain and I'm so happy about that. Suzuki are working hard and seem to have ironed out the problems we had in Qatar, so that's a positive."
2nd - Nicky Hayden: 2'04.823
"I made a mistake on the final turn when I was on my hot lap, so I'm not happy about that, but you've got to be satisfied whenever you're on the front row of the grid. I'm feeling good, and although we've not had too much time to get perfect set-up in the dry yet, I will deal with whatever conditions we get; after all, you can't control them."
3rd - Sete Gibernau: 2'05.003
"We are working well and we're happy, with Ducati leading the championship and a good pre-season, it shows everyone is doing a great job. We have been able to check the bike and the Bridgestone tyres in the wet and they are doing good, which is important as the championship is about racing well in all conditions."
Source: Dorna Communications
   
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