Casey Stoner will start tomorrow's Dutch TT from pole position, with teammate Dani Pedrosa alongside him after one of the best qualifying sessions of the season for the Repsol Honda Team.
The session was interrupted twice due to light showers and the final grid positions were only decided in the final flying laps. Stoner did a fantastic job to put this morning's hard crash behind him and whilst laying ninth on the grid with just six minutes remaining, put in an incredible lap to take his third pole of the season, after Portugal and Catalunya.
Pedrosa, finally finishing second and just one tenth off his team mate, was topping the time sheets on both occasions when the rain stopped play but missed his chance for the top spot after he ran wide on his final lap.
Casey Stoner
"This morning was probably one of my biggest crashes, which is saying something! The crash really knocked the wind out of me, I hurt my head, neck, wrist, knee and shoulder, it was a bad one for sure. The team did a really great job, they kept their heads down even when I wasn't riding to my full potential or the bike's full potential and when we were struggling to get the rear tyre to work, they didn't give up. Then when we came back onto the soft rear tyre for the first time since FP1, the bike had much more feeling and we were able to put together a fantastic lap and put it on pole. As far as race pace goes, we're still struggling and we need to work on this and make some decisions before the race."
Dani Pedrosa
"We did a very good job in all the practice sessions and I'm happy with qualifying, even though I missed the pole position at the very end. The target was to be on the front row because the first corner here is very close and tight, and to work hard to get a good race pace, I think we did everything well. It looks like the soft tyre gives you a lot of potential but for the race distance we are not 100% sure, especially on the left side, which is softer. Here it is important to have good stability out of the corner and with the hard compound you get it, so we will need to wait and see what the conditions are like tomorrow and do the best in the race."
Repsol Honda Press Release
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