Stoner takes pole at wet Donington
Reigning champion Casey Stoner took a commanding pole position, his second of the year, ahead of tomorrow's British MotoGP at Donington Park
The one-hour session, held on a wet track with rain falling during the first half, saw the Ducati Marlboro rider topping the times for most of the session, with only Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen managing to briefly go fastest.
In the end, no one could get close enough to Stoner, whose best lap of 1:38.232 - set after the chequered flag - was over six tenths faster than second quickest Valentino Rossi with his Fiat Yamaha, who won the battle for second-best by 0.137 seconds over Vermeulen.
Fourth quickest was Nicky Hayden, whose Repsol Honda fitted with the pneumatic-valve engine was one second behind pole position. The American will share the second row of the grid with Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) and Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda).
Kawasaki's Anthony West will head the third row, with Rizla Suzuki MotoGP debutant Ben Spies next to him along with the factory Honda of championship contender Dani Pedrosa starting only ninth.
Honda Gresini's Shinya Nakano completes the top ten, pushing Kawasaki's John Hopkins down to eleventh, over half a second behind his teammate.
It wasn't an easy session for Ducati's Marco Melandri, who finished in 15th spot, Tech 3's James Toseland, who had two separate crashes at the end of the session to qualify 16th, and Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo whose return from injury saw him qualify only 17th.
Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) 1:38.232 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) 1:38.881 + 0.649 3. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) 1:39.018 + 0.786 4. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) 1:39.270 + 1.038 5. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) 1:39.601 + 1.369 6. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) 1:39.783 + 1.551 7. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) 1:39.995 + 1.763 8. Ben Spies Suzuki (B) 1:40.244 + 2.012 9. Dani Pedrosa Honda (M) 1:40.350 + 2.118 10. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) 1:40.417 + 2.185 11. John Hopkins Kawasaki (B) 1:40.539 + 2.307 12. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) 1:40.595 + 2.363 13. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) 1:40.667 + 2.435 14. Randy de Puniet Honda (M) 1:41.110 + 2.678 15. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) 1:41.379 + 3.147 16. James Toseland Yamaha (M) 1:41.751 + 3.519 17. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) 1:41.873 + 3.641 18. Toni Elias Ducati (B) 1:42.933 + 4.701
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