planetearth
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Number of posts : 3271
Registration date : 2007-02-03
 |  Subject: Pedrosa puts Spain on pole position.  Sun Mar 25, 2007 1:56 pm | |
| - Quote :
- The closest top ten in MotoGP qualifying history has been led by Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, who took pole position for his home Spanish Grand Prix in front of a packed Jerez crowd.
In a repeat of the head-to-head seen at the final pre-season Jerez test, Pedrosa and former five-times world champion Valentino Rossi again rose to the front of the field. But this time their positions were reversed, with Pedrosa edging out the Italian to take pole position by just 0.051secs. It was the 21-year-old Spaniard's fifth MotoGP pole and the first for the new 800cc Honda RC212V.
Before his final charge on qualifiers, Pedrosa had set the fastest time of the session on race tyres – a lap of 1m 40.899s. With such positive omens, a huge crowd is certain to pack into the Jerez circuit from the early hours of Sunday morning hoping to see Pedrosa go one better than last year's second position and take victory in the 27-lap race.
"I think we did a good job and I'm very happy to have qualified on pole position of course, though the really important thing is to be on the front row - that was our main aim today," said Dani. Who finished third at the Qatar season-opener. "The race set-up we have for the bike is quite good and the tyre choice looks ok as well so we'll have to see how their performance continues over the race distance. I don't think there's any extra pressure that comes from being on pole position but the times are very close so a good start will be very important tomorrow. The crowd was amazing today. On the last lap coming into the pits I was more relaxed and I could actually notice how many people there were. It's great for the Spanish riders and the others to have so much support and I think the atmosphere tomorrow will be very special. I hope I can make a great start and fight for the win."
Meanwhile, with fellow Spaniard Carlos Checa joining Pedrosa on the front row, tomorrow's main event looks certain to thrill the sell-out Jerez crowd... ... ... Crash | |
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