All-or-nothing lap gives Edwards maiden MotoGP pole

2007-05-19 08:57
Colin Edwards took his first ever MotoGP pole position as the fastest rider in history at Le Mans, something long overdue for the popular 'Texas Tornado'. Edwards' only previous experience of heading the World Championship field was when he won last year's Official Test BMW Award, but his final all-or-nothing lap at the French circuit in a 'proper' qualifying session comes with the bonus of giving him a great chance of his second podium of the year and first GP victory.

The Fiat Yamaha rider had experienced a crash at the end of the morning session, but he appeared unfazed by the high side as he smashed the circuit record at the last possible moment. Already assured of a place on the second row, Edwards had nothing to lose by going all-out for pole, a decision for which he reaped the rewards with a time of 1'33.616.

The fastest lap of the day came somewhat out of the blue, as Casey Stoner had looked all but certain of his first pole of the season. The championship leader was less than a tenth of a second slower than Edwards, and has not been off the front two rows this season.

A rider who has more experience of the Le Mans circuit than most put his knowledge into practice in the afternoon outing, as Carlos Checa returned to the front row on the LCR Honda. He was joined by five time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi as part of the four-rider group who went round in under 1'34.

John Hopkins and Toni Elias completed a top six split equally between Michelin and Bridgestone riders, ahead of reigning World Champion Nicky Hayden and home rider Randy de Puniet. The latter will be hoping for better luck than he had at his maiden MotoGP race in France, in which he was involved in a collision on the opening lap and forced to retire.

The 2006 racewinner and poleman rounded off the fastest ten riders of the day. Marco Melandri was unable to match his timesheet-topping achievement from yesterday and ended up ninth, whilst Dani Pedrosa never looked like troubling the frontrunners onboard the Honda RC212V in tenth.

Special mention must go to the second French rider competing at this week's Alice Grand Prix de France, Sylvain Guintoli. The Yamaha satellite rider had his best ever MotoGP qualifying session, and at one point was even the fastest rider of the day - much to the delight of the fans gathered at the historic Le Mans circuit. He will start from eleventh place tomorrow.



250cc


Jorge Lorenzo appeared unaffected by the huge highside that he suffered yesterday afternoon as he blew away the competition for his fourth pole of the season. The reigning 250cc World Champion's time of 1'37.934 was over half a second quicker than his nearest rival, fellow Spaniard Julian Simon.

Quarter-litre rookie Simon's second place on the grid is his third front row start and his best ever position since his move to the category. A Spanish top three was completed by Hector Barbera, with another rookie - Swiss rider Thomas Luthi - completing the front row. Luthi has won the previous two instalments of the French race in the 125cc class, and looks to have the same skills required for the task with a 250cc Aprilia.

Aspar riders Alvaro Bautista and Alex de Angelis complete the top six, which consists of only one non-Aprilia rider in Simon. 125cc World Champion Bautista has had a great start to his rookie season in the category, which has been memorable for his battles with both Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso. The latter joins him on the second row, with the duo separated by Marco Simoncelli.




125cc

Mattia Pasini will start on pole for the 125cc race in France for the second consecutive year, but had yet another mechanical scare to contend with after confirming his fourth qualifying success of the season. The Italian knocked over a second off his time from the opening session to clock a 1'43.111 hot lap, but had no sooner seen his place confirmed than the exhaust of his Polaris World Aprilia flew off behind him. Such matters will be of concern to Pasini, who has finished just one race so far in 2007 despite three previous poles.

It was an incredible day for British rider Bradley Smith, who achieved his best ever grid position with a time just over half a second slower than Pasini's flying lap. The 2006 Rookie Of The Year became the fastest ever Honda 125cc rider at Le Mans with an assured performance nearly 1.5 seconds quicker than last year's pole lap, and has a great chance to show just how far he has come in the past year and a half since his World Championship debut.

Tomoyoshi Koyama and Hector Faubel complete the front row for tomorrow's race, whilst World Championship leader Lukas Pesek made it four factories in the top five. The Czech rider crashed early on in the final session, but was soon back on track to try and give himself the best chance of repeating his maiden victory from China.

Sergio Gadea, Andrea Iannone and Gabor Talmacsi complete the second row, with the latter looking to regain the lead in the overall classification.



The Alice Grand Prix de France begins tomorrow at 11am local time, with the MotoGP race taking place at 2pm.

Source: Dorna Communications

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