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Australia Moto2: Pol Espargaro beats Scott Redding to pole

Pol Espargaro did everything he could to keep his dwindling Moto2 championship hopes alive by taking a comfortable pole at Phillip Island

Pons rider Espargaro is 48 points adrift of MotoGP-bound rival Marc Marquez with just two races to go and 50 points available.

Espargaro took provisional pole with a 1m33.705s shortly before a rain shower curtailed the action just after qualifying's halfway point.

Although sunshine returned before the end, none of the frontrunners managed to improve, leaving Espargaro on pole by half a second.

Final practice pacesetter Scott Redding took second for Marc VDS, escaping a huge moment on his last bid to depose Espargaro.

Marquez took the final front-row spot, ahead of Tom Luthi, Takaaki Nakagami and Randy Krummenacher on row two.

Home favourite Anthony West looked set for seventh until crashing on the approach to MG corner in the final minutes. He was pushed back to ninth by Johann Zarco and Andrea Iannone.

Last year's Phillip Island Moto2 winner Alex de Angelis crashed at Siberia corner in the closing stages and will miss Sunday's race as a result of his injuries.

The Forward rider appeared to get his hand caught under his FTR machine as he fell and was in clear pain afterwards. He was later found to have fractured at least one finger and was taken to the local Epworth Hospital for surgery.

Pos  Rider                 Team/Bike              Time       Gap
 1.  Pol Espargaro         Pons Kalex             1m33.705s
 2.  Scott Redding         Marc VDS Kalex         1m34.264s  + 0.559s
 3.  Marc Marquez          Monlau Suter           1m34.408s  + 0.703s
 4.  Thomas Luthi          Paddock Suter          1m34.513s  + 0.808s
 5.  Takaaki Nakagami      Italtrans Kalex        1m34.541s  + 0.836s
 6.  Randy Krummenacher    Switzerland Kalex      1m34.596s  + 0.891s
 7.  Johann Zarco          JIR Motobi             1m34.696s  + 0.991s
 8.  Andrea Iannone        Speed Master Speed Up  1m34.714s  + 1.009s
 9.  Anthony West          QMMF Speed Up          1m34.765s  + 1.060s
10.  Esteve Rabat          Pons Kalex             1m34.900s  + 1.195s
11.  Simone Corsi          Ioda FTR               1m34.973s  + 1.268s
12.  Dominique Aegerter    Technomag-CIP Suter    1m35.020s  + 1.315s
13.  Axel Pons             Pons Kalex             1m35.052s  + 1.347s
14.  Mika Kallio           Marc VDS Kalex         1m35.071s  + 1.366s
15.  Bradley Smith         Tech 3                 1m35.169s  + 1.464s
16.  Xavier Simeon         Tech 3                 1m35.310s  + 1.605s
17.  Julian Simon          Avintia Suter          1m35.466s  + 1.761s
18.  Toni Elias            Italtrans Kalex        1m35.546s  + 1.841s
19.  Mike di Meglio        Kiefer Kalex           1m35.589s  + 1.884s
20.  Jordi Torres          Aspar Suter            1m35.609s  + 1.904s
21.  Ricard Cardus         Arguinano AJR          1m35.864s  + 2.159s
22.  Alex de Angelis       Forward FTR            1m35.906s  + 2.201s
23.  Ratthapark Wilairot   Gresini Suter          1m36.026s  + 2.321s
24.  Gino Rea              Gresini Suter          1m36.163s  + 2.458s
25.  Marcel Schrotter      SAG Bimota             1m36.242s  + 2.537s
26.  Nicolas Terol         Aspar Suter            1m36.550s  + 2.845s
27.  Alessandro Andreozzi  Speed Master Speed Up  1m37.293s  + 3.588s
28.  Yuki Takahashi        Forward FTR            1m37.436s  + 3.731s
29.  Tomoyoshi Koyama      Technomag-CIP Suter    1m37.524s  + 3.819s
30.  Elena Rosell          QMMF Speed Up          1m37.829s  + 4.124s
31.  Marco Colandrea       SAG FTR                1m38.266s  + 4.561s
32.  Eric Granado          JIR Motobi             1m40.119s  + 6.414s

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