Pedrosa dominates Indy qualifying
Honda's Dani Pedrosa has continued with his crushing dominance of MotoGP's Indianapolis weekend by taking pole position with a gap of more than half a second over the rest of the field
The Spaniard, who also topped both practice sessions, never relinquished the top of the timesheets in the second half of the one-hour session, and was the only rider to break the 1m40s barrier thanks to a 1m39.730s lap with two minutes remaining.
Compatriot Jorge Lorenzo was the only one who gave Pedrosa something of a challenge, but ultimately had to settle for second with his Yamaha, a full 0.506s behind pole.
Valentino Rossi, in the other Yamaha, salvaged third in the dying seconds. The Italian held the final front row slot for most of the session but was bettered by an impressive Alex de Angelis (Gresini Honda) with 12 minutes to go. In the end, Rossi edged ahead by just 0.011s.
Americans Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati) qualified fifth and sixth respectively, despite the former crashing in the final minutes of the session.
Toni Elias (Gresini Honda) and Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) also crashed during qualifying and ultimately qualified seventh and eighth, with Marco Melandri (Hayate Kawasaki) and James Toseland (Tech 3 Yamaha) completing the top ten.
Pramac Ducati's replacement Aleix Espargaro avoided finishing his first ever MotoGP qualifying session in last position by beating Scot Honda's Gabor Talmacsi.
Pos Rider Bike Time Laps 1. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m39.730s 30 2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m40.236s + 0.506s 31 3. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m40.609s + 0.879s 27 4. Alex de Angelis Gresini Honda 1m40.620s + 0.890s 24 5. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m40.961s + 1.231s 21 6. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m41.067s + 1.337s 29 7. Toni Elias Gresini Honda 1m41.283s + 1.553s 26 8. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m41.309s + 1.579s 27 9. Marco Melandri Hayate Kawasaki 1m41.530s + 1.800s 27 10. James Toseland Tech 3 Yamaha 1m41.620s + 1.890s 26 11. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m41.742s + 2.012s 26 12. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m41.773s + 2.043s 28 13. Niccolo Canepa Pramac Ducati 1m41.910s + 2.180s 27 14. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m42.038s + 2.308s 29 15. Mika Kallio Ducati 1m42.250s + 2.520s 24 16. Aleix Espargaro Pramac Ducati 1m42.577s + 2.847s 25 17. Gabor Talmacsi Scot Honda 1m42.736s + 3.006s 27
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