Dani Pedrosa continues to ride the fastest around the Misano track. Pedrosa has been in top form this weekend, and in tomorrow's MotoGP race in San Marino, he will start from the top spot on the grid. Pedrosa claimed his fourth pole position of the season today, and hopefully, the Repsol Honda rider will be able to turn it into his fourth win. Pedrosa claimed the pole position on his final lap, with a blistering 1'33.948 lap time. He was the only rider to finish under 1'34” and beat out season leader Jorge Lorenzo by three tenths of a second.
Lorenzo held the lead during today's qualifying session for the final ten minutes, but was overtaken as time was running out by Pedrosa. Lorenzo still maintains his record of starting every race this year on the front row.
Behind Lorenzo came Casey Stoner. Stoner held the lead briefly during today's qualifying in Misano, but his building speed was broken twenty minutes into the session with a crash at turn 4. After some front end work by his crew, Stoner was able to remount and finish third for the day, a half a second behind Lorenzo.
Valentino Rossi still isn't where he wants to be on the Misano track, but managed a fourth place finish today in front of his home crowd. Rossi will be leading the second row during tomorrow's race, and will need a superb effort if he wants to pass up the top three riders.
Ben Spies took his Yamaha Tech 3 motorcycle into 5th place, and Randy de Puniet secured the last spot on the second row with a 6th place finish.
It was a pretty clean session for the MotoGP riders at Misano. Only one other crash occurred, when another Ducati crashed again at turn 4. Hector Barbera was able to remount and finish 12th.
MotoGP - Misano - Qualifying Results
1. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 1m 33.948s
2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Fiat Yamaha Team 1m 34.256s
3. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 1m 34.397s
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 1m 34.470s
5. Ben Spies USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1m 34.472s
6. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 1m 34.751s
7. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1m 34.782s
8. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 1m 34.826s
9. Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m 34.934s
10. Marco Melandri ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m 35.018s
