Hayden snatches pole in champion's qualifying performance

2007-09-15 09:13
Whilst all talk in the run-up to the bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal focused on current World Championship leader Casey Stoner, it was the reigning MotoGP World Champion who showed his quality as Nicky Hayden took pole for tomorrow's race.

Coming back from the disappointment of several unfortunate first lap incidents, the American put himself in the best position to avoid other riders' manoeuvres with a last gasp hot lap. A 1'36.301 dash in the final minute of the session placed 'The Kentucky Kid' at the head of the field for his first race in Estoril since the infamous collision with Dani Pedrosa in 2006. Hayden was last on pole at Phillip Island in his title-winning year.

The final 15 minutes of the hour long qualifying session were as exciting as they come, with the reigning World Champion, the current top dog and the five time title holder all staking their claim for pole position. Casey Stoner put on his game face with 12 minutes left on the clock, but had to answer back immediately when Valentino Rossi undertook his fastest lap of the day. What had looked like a straight battle between the two title contenders was eventually gatecrashed by Hayden, who denied Stoner his fifth consecutive pole position.

The second row in Estoril will be headed by something of a surprise package, as Makoto Tamada put in an astonishing display as one of only two non-Michelin riders in the top six. Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3's Japanese rider had benefited from his having tested a qualifier yesterday afternoon, and took his best qualifying performance of the season at a track where both he and his current team took their best results last year.

After leading the session before the qualifiers came on, Dani Pedrosa eventually had to settle for fifth on the grid, alongside Yamaha man Colin Edwards.

Marco Melandri, Sylvain Guintoli and last year's winner Toni Elias start from the third row, with John Hopkins completing the top ten. There were light crashes in the session for both Shinya Nakano and Randy de Puniet, from which both were able to return to the action immediately.

250cc

At the circuit where he upped the pressure on Jorge Lorenzo with victory last season, Andrea Dovizioso took pole position from the grasp of his consistent 250cc rival by just over a tenth of a second.

The Italian, so desperately disappointed at his home race in Misano when his bike broke down, was a focused man coming out for the second quarter litre qualifying session. A 1'40.355 lap gave him the new pole record at the Estoril circuit, and was over a second quicker than Roberto Locatelli's previous fastest time from 2006.

The man who took the biggest chunk out of the pole record yesterday was reigning World Champion and current leader in the standings Jorge Lorenzo, the only rider in the top 18 unable improve on his times today. The Spaniard was half a second slower this afternoon, but his fine ride yesterday assured another front row for the Aprilia man.

The session was incident-filled, as tempers heated up to accompany the Portuguese weather. Dovizioso gesticulated at 250cc rookie Karel Abraham when he adjudged the Czech rider to have come too close to him, whilst Lorenzo lashed out with a kick at Marco Simoncelli when trying to put in a fast lap. The 250cc World Champion also gave an important psychological boost to Dovizioso when undertaking his final hot lap, nearly losing the back of his bike right in front of the Italian.

Mika Kallio completes the front row as the highest placing KTM, ahead of Hiroshi Aoayma, Alvaro Bautista, Julian Simon and title contender Alex de Angelis.

125cc

Mattia Pasini will start from pole in 125cc for the seventh time this season, having snatched the top spot from Lukas Pesek in the final stages of this afternoon's qualifying session. The Italian has a perfect record so far this weekend in the lower cylinder category, following up on his home victory at Misano by topping the timesheets at every single session.

Pasini's 1'44.675 hot lap came in the final minute of the qualifying session. Before this, Lukas Pesek had looked on course for his second consecutive pole position, having put in a lap just 0.258 slower than his Italian rival's eventual top spot time. Pesek also suffered a lowside crash in the last five minutes of the session, although he was uninjured in the light fall.

One of the protagonists of the thrilling last lap collision at Misano, Simone Corsi once again had hearts racing when he cut across a group of riders before the termination of the session. The Italian was third quickest in the afternoon to assure his place on the front row, which is completed by World Championship leader Gabor Talmacsi.

Sandro Cortese heads row two, ahead of the Spanish trio of Sergio Gadea, Pol Espargaro and Hector Faubel.


Source: Dorna Communications

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