Pedrosa takes pole on home ground

The Repsol Honda rider laid down a record breaking lap at the Circuito de Jerez to take his first top spot of the season, driving the thousands of fans flocked gathered at the Spanish track wild with delight. The session created the closest ever top ten in MotoGP history.

Pedrosa traded the fastest time honors with Valentino Rossi, and the two will start alongside each other on the front row at a race in which they are predicted to fight for the win all the way. The two were the quickest at last month’s Official Test, with Rossi emerging as the victor in a 40 minute shootout on that occasion.

The pole-setting 1’39.402 lap from the 21 year old was just five hundredths of a second quicker than that of the five time World Champion, with Carlos Checa just seven thousandths behind him. Checa has been on great form all week at his home track, and will start tomorrow from the front row after a long absence from the leading three.

Colin Edwards, Casey Stoner and John Hopkins, who on any other day might have taken pole with their jaw-dropping times, will follow the leading three from row two. Shinya Nakano picked up his pace to take seventh, ahead of Gresini Honda duo Toni Elias and Marco Melandri and Kenny Roberts Jr.

World champion Nicky Hayden was 11th fastest, with less than half a second between the top 12 riders.

Pos Rider Bike Time Gap
1. Pedrosa Honda 1:39.402
2. Rossi Yamaha 1:39.453 + 0.051
3. Checa Honda 1:39.460 + 0.058
4. Edwards Yamaha 1:39.486 + 0.084
5. Stoner Ducati 1:39.524 + 0.122
6. Hopkins Suzuki 1:39.625 + 0.223
7. Nakano Honda 1:39.632 + 0.230
8. Elias Honda 1:39.660 + 0.258
9. Melandri Honda 1:39.722 + 0.320
10. Roberts Jr KR 1:39.727 + 0.325
11. Hayden Honda 1:39.834 + 0.432
12. De Puniet Kawasaki 1:40.144 + 0.461
13. Barros Ducati 1:40.196 + 0.794
14. Vermeulen Suzuki 1:40.328 + 0.926
15. Capirossi Ducati 1:40.391 + 0.989
16. Jacque Kawasaki 1:40.405 + 1.003
17. Tamada Yamaha 1:40.617 + 1.215
18. Hofmann Ducati 1:40.710 + 1.308
19. Akiyoshi Suzuki 1:41.202 + 1.800
20. Guintoli Yamaha 1:41.219 + 1.817