Stoner claims fourth consecutive pole
Reigning champion Casey Stoner took his fourth consecutive pole position of the season with a dominant performance in qualifying for the German MotoGP at the Sachsenring
The Ducati Marlboro rider beat the track's lap record, set by rival Dani Pedrosa in 2006 with a 990cc Repsol Honda, with 18 minutes of the one-hour session to go, and further improved twice to set a final time of 1:21.067.
Best of the rest, 0.353 behind the Australian, was championship leader Pedrosa himself, who as the time had already expired managed to snatch second from Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards, who himself had just taken it from JiR Honda's Andrea Dovizioso.
Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo will start the race from the fifth slot on the grid, with Randy de Puniet's LCR Honda rounding up the second row.
Lorenzo's teammate Valentino Rossi struggled with his front Bridgestone tyre and had to be content with seventh-best, almost eight tenths behind Stoner.
Nicky Hayden on the second works Honda qualified ninth, ahead of the two Honda Gresinis of Shinya Nakano and Alex de Angelis.
Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) 1:21.067 2. Dani Pedrosa Honda (M) 1:21.420 + 0.353 3. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) 1:21.519 + 0.452 4. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) 1:21.656 + 0.589 5. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) 1:21.795 + 0.728 6. Randy de Puniet Honda (M) 1:21.821 + 0.754 7. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) 1:21.845 + 0.778 8. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) 1:21.876 + 0.809 9. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) 1:21.876 + 0.853 10. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) 1:21.977 + 0.910 11. James Toseland Yamaha (M) 1:22.126 + 1.059 12. Toni Elias Ducati (B) 1:22.256 + 1.189 13. Loris Capirossi Suzuki (B) 1:22.542 + 1.475 14. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) 1:22.601 + 1.534 15. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) 1:22.938 + 1.871 16. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) 1:23.131 + 2.064 17. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) 1:23.158 + 2.091
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