MotoGP: Pedrosa seals pole hat-trick at Sepang.

[Rory Phoulorie]

Saturday, 20th October 2007

Dani Pedrosa has snared his third MotoGP pole position in a row after a closely contested qualifying session at Sepang in Malaysia.


The Spaniard, the only Honda rider to win a race so far this season, had been fast throughout much of the hour, but slipped to a low of eighth as the chequered flag was waved.

However, Dani then delivered pole on his very last lap by edging out new world champion Casey Stoner to the tune of 0.041secs, while Honda Gresini rider Marco Melandri claimed an even later third place to complete Sunday's front row.

Kawasaki team-mates Randy de Puniet and Anthony West will start fourth and fifth after Team Green's best qualifying of the year. de Puniet, fastest on Friday, recovered well after falling from his ZX-RR in the opening eight minutes, while West surprised by holding pole position from the 33rd to 52nd minute.

Pedrosa's team-mate Nicky Hayden jumped from seventh to third during the final minute, before being bumped back to sixth, while Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen was pushed from second to seventh in the closing stages to head row three.

Vermeulen will be joined on the third row by Melandri's team-mate Toni Elias and Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi. After his Friday woes, the Italian again suffered badly for much of qualifying - The Doctor was only 14th with eight minutes to go, then jumped to an impressive second, before being bumped all the way back down to ninth at the flag.

Rossi finished the hour 0.589secs behind pole sitter Pedrosa, making Vale the lead Yamaha rider and third fastest Michelin. Barring an overnight miracle, the #46 might well have to pin his hopes on the real possibility of rain in Sunday's race.

Crash.net columnist Chaz Davies qualified 17th fastest on his third weekend with d'Antin Ducati, putting the 20-year-old ahead of Makoto Tamada's Tech 3 Yamaha, Nobuatsu Aoki's prototype 2008 Suzuki and Kurtis Roberts' KR212V.


Qualifying:

1. Pedrosa
2. Stoner
3. Melandri
4. de Puniet
5. West
6. Hayden
7. Vermeulen
8. Elias
9. Rossi
10. Hopkins
11. Capirossi
12. Barros
13. Edwards
14. Nakano
15. Guintoli
16. Checa
17. Davies
18. Tamada
19. Aoki
20. Roberts

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