From MotoGP
After a dominant performance in the first MotoGP qualifying session of the year, Casey Stoner will line up on pole for the Commercial bank Grand Prix of Qatar.
The 2007 FIM MotoGP World Champion and Ducati Marlboro rider will attempt to make it three consecutive season-opening victories in Qatar on Sunday, having qualified in style at the floodlit Losail International Circuit.
The Australian, who took the win in the opening races of the year in 2007 and 2008, was in hot form again in the first qualifying session of the new single tyre supplier era, setting a 1'55.286s best time near the end of the session to keep him nearly half a second ahead of the chasing pack.
The 'best of the rest' was World Champion Valentino Rossi who registered his best time on his penultimate lap, a 0.473s margin behind Stoner. The Italian therefore starts his title defence second on the grid, a big improvement on his seventh place in qualifying at Qatar last year.
Rossi's team-mate, 2008 poleman Jorge Lorenzo, completes the front row courtesy of his 1'55.783s time, itself just 0.024s behind his Fiat Yamaha colleague's best.
The American Nicky Hayden has hurt his back in a huge high-speed highside crash on turn two at the end of the session but his participation in the Commercial bank Grand Prix of Qatar , his 100th career start, has not been ruled out.
After a dominant performance in the first MotoGP qualifying session of the year, Casey Stoner will line up on pole for the Commercial bank Grand Prix of Qatar.
The 2007 FIM MotoGP World Champion and Ducati Marlboro rider will attempt to make it three consecutive season-opening victories in Qatar on Sunday, having qualified in style at the floodlit Losail International Circuit.
The Australian, who took the win in the opening races of the year in 2007 and 2008, was in hot form again in the first qualifying session of the new single tyre supplier era, setting a 1'55.286s best time near the end of the session to keep him nearly half a second ahead of the chasing pack.
The 'best of the rest' was World Champion Valentino Rossi who registered his best time on his penultimate lap, a 0.473s margin behind Stoner. The Italian therefore starts his title defence second on the grid, a big improvement on his seventh place in qualifying at Qatar last year.
Rossi's team-mate, 2008 poleman Jorge Lorenzo, completes the front row courtesy of his 1'55.783s time, itself just 0.024s behind his Fiat Yamaha colleague's best.
The American Nicky Hayden has hurt his back in a huge high-speed highside crash on turn two at the end of the session but his participation in the Commercial bank Grand Prix of Qatar , his 100th career start, has not been ruled out.