Australia's Casey Stoner qualifies on pole for home race

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Australia's Casey Stoner qualifies on pole for home race. Photo: EFE

Australia's Casey Stoner shrugged off a persistent wrist injury and a fall in final practice to claim pole position on Saturday for the Australian MotoGP.

Stoner, who will have surgery at the end of the season to fix a broken bone in his wrist, steered his Ducati around the 4.45-km Phillip Island track in warm and sunny conditions in a new pole record of one minute, 28.665 seconds.

Valentino Rossi, who won his fifth MotoGP world title last week in Japan, fell off his Yamaha with 15 minutes remaining in qualifying for Sunday's race. He rode off the track and on to the grass before falling heavily on his right shoulder in the gravel. After being checked out in his team garage, the Italian returned with two minutes of qualifying remaining in a bid to improve on his 1:30.014, but he was unable to get up to speed and qualified 12th.

Rossi's team mate Jorge Lorenzo was second fastest in 1:28.734, while American Nicky Hayden, who is joining Stoner at Ducati from Honda next year, qualified third in 1:28.756. Spain's Lorenzo and Hayden had held the fastest qualifying time five times between them before 2007 world champion Stoner came out to snatch pole in the final minute of the session. The 22-year-old Australian had fallen earlier on Saturday when his bike slipped from under him in the final lap of free practice, where he was also consistently the fastest rider.

World championship leader Marco Simoncelli of Italy qualified fastest in the 250cc class in 1:32.075, just ahead of title rivals Mika Kallio of Finland (1:32.862) and Alvaro Bautista of Spain (1:32.917). France's Mike di Meglio also moved within sight of his first 125cc world title by claiming pole in 1:37.553, ahead of Britain's Bradley Smith and Germany's Stefan Bradl.

Australia MotoGP qualifying results:

1. Casey Stoner (Australia) Ducati 1:28.665
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 1:28.734
3. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Honda 1:28.756
4. Randy de Puniet (France) Honda 1:28.808
5. James Toseland (Britain) Yamaha 1:29.031
6. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 1:29.277
7. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Yamaha 1:29.513
8. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda 1:29.558
9. Shinya Nakano (Japan) Honda 1:29.710
10. Alex de Angelis (San Marino) Honda 1:29.925

Australian grand prix 250cc qualifying results:

1. Marco Simoncelli (Italy) Gilera 1:32.075
2. Mika Kallio (Finland) KTM 1:32.862
3. Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Aprilia 1:32.917
4. Hiroshi Aoyama (Japan) KTM 1:33.048
5. Hector Faubel (Spain) Aprilia 1:33.167
6. Julian Simon (Spain) KTM 1:33.250
7. Yuki Takahashi (Japan) Honda 1:33.294
8. Alex Debon (Spain) Aprilia 1:33.349
9. Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Aprilia 1:33.368
10. Mattia Pasini (Italy) Aprilia 1:33.376

Australian grand prix 125cc qualifying results:

1. Mike Di Meglio (France) Derbi 1:37.553
2. Bradley Smith (Britain) Aprilia 1:37.791
3. Stefan Bradl (Germany) Aprilia 1:38.034
4. Nicolas Terol (Spain) Aprilia 1:38.110
5. Andrea Iannone (Italy) Aprilia 1:38.242
6. Sandro Cortese (Germany) Aprilia 1:38.361
7. Raffaele De Rosa (Italy) KTM 1:38.473
8. Simone Corsi (Italy) Aprilia 1:38.476
9. Gabor Talmacsi (Hungary) Aprilia 1:38.501
10. Dominique Aegerter (Switzerland) Derbi 1:38.600