Rossi takes Brno pole despite crash

The reigning world champion had set the quickest first sector time with just three minutes to go in qualifying as he set out to eclipse his time of 1m56.145s, when the front-end of his FIAT Yamaha gave way and he slipped into the gravel.

It was a rare error from the master, and while he walked away uninjured, his bike slammed hard into the barriers.

Rossi though, did manage to contain the challenge of his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who for much of the weekend has shown the upper hand.

The Spaniard was forced to settle for second position in the end, just 0.050s slower than Rossi, having led the way for much of the hour.

Dani Pedrosa qualified third fastest on the HRC Honda, more than 0.3s behind the Yamaha duo. He looked disappointed after afterwards but in truth he didn't look likely to take the pole away from Rossi.

Toni Elias was fourth for the Gresini team that has just confirmed he has been dropped for 2010.

Colin Edwards continued his consistent form at Brno with fifth position ahead of Donington-winner Andrea Dovizioso on the other Repsol Honda.

Alex de Angelis was seventh ahead of Nicky Hayden, who for once was the fastest Ducati rider.

Indeed the American had the edge over Ducati stand-in Kallio for much of the session and the Finn even crashed trying to match him.

The two factory Italian machines were split by Loris Capirossi in ninth position, the Suzuki not showing quite the same potential it had in morning practice.

Pos  Rider             Bike             Time       Gap
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha           1m56.145s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha           1m56.195s  + 0.050s
 3.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda            1m56.528s  + 0.383s
 4.  Toni Elias        Gresini Honda    1m56.817s  + 0.672s
 5.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha    1m56.954s  + 0.809s
 6.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda            1m57.108s  + 0.963s
 7.  Alex de Angelis   Gresini Honda    1m57.775s  + 1.630s
 8.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati           1m57.803s  + 1.658s
 9.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki           1m57.811s  + 1.666s
10.  Mika Kallio       Ducati           1m57.994s  + 1.849s
11.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki           1m58.087s  + 1.942s
12.  Niccolo Canepa    Pramac Ducati    1m58.208s  + 2.063s
13.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda        1m58.298s  + 2.153s
14.  James Toseland    Tech 3 Yamaha    1m58.331s  + 2.186s
15.  Marco Melandri    Hayate Kawasaki  1m58.477s  + 2.332s
16.  Michel Fabrizio   Pramac Ducati    1m58.680s  + 2.535s
17.  Gabor Talmacsi    Scot Honda       1m58.749s  + 2.604s