Thursday, October 16, 2008

Simoncelli takes dominant pole

Championship leader Marco Simoncelli has taken a dominant pole position in the second qualifying session for the 250cc class at Phillip Island.

After heading the times early in the session, Simoncelli was overtaken by Hiroshi Aoyama, who set times of 1:33.049 and 1:33.048 on consecutive laps ten minutes into the session.

Halfway through the session Simoncelli retook top spot with a time of 1:32.620, Ultimately, this would have been good enough for pole, but with two minutes remaining Simoncelli extinguished the other riders' hopes with a time of 1:32.075, ending the session nearly eight tenths clear of his nearest rival.

That nearest rival ended up being Kallio, who along with Alvaro Bautista, set their best times after the chequered flag had waved. Aoyama's best was good enough for fourth, the only other rider within a second of Simoncelli.

Hector Faubel leads the second row, ahead of Julian Simon, Yuki Takahashi, who had a fall early in the session, and Alex Debon.

After his heavy crash yesterday, Fabrizio Lai recovered to set the thirteenth fastest time, just behind Thai rider Ratthapark Wilairot.

Full results to follow...



  • Simoncelli takes pole from Barbera
  • U.S. dominant in World Cup qualifier
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