Pedrosa just squeaks past title rival Lorenzo for pole, Crutchlow third; Rossi sixth, Spies eighth after crash, Hayden 10th, Edwards 20th
Continuing rain showers all day Friday and Saturday morning at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli ruined the three MotoGP practice sessions, with the constantly changing track conditions making any attempts at getting up to speed useless and unnecessarily risky. So when the weather finally cleared and the track dried up for Saturday afternoon’s 60-minute qualifying session, it became a very frantic affair as riders and crews hastily tried to find the right tires and bike setting for tomorrow’s race, while at the same time finding a setting to work with the soft compound tires for qualifying, as Misano’s tight layout makes passing difficult, so a good start position is crucial.
With ten minutes to go, LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl put himself on top of the timesheets with a superb effort, and it wasn’t until two minutes left to go in qualifying that he was pushed off the top spot by Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow. The British rider looked like he might get his maiden MotoGP pole position at Misano with an even quicker lap with 78 seconds left, but then title rivals Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa started their duel with a minute left. Lorenzo took the top spot with 53 seconds to go, but then Pedrosa undercut the Majorcan’s time with 26 seconds left to take pole. Lorenzo had one lap to try and take it back, but couldn’t improve on it, giving Pedrosa his third pole of the season.
aPhoto Gallery: MotoGP Misano qualifying report - Sport Rider Magazine
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