Stoner takes final pole

The last qualifying of the season for the MotoGP class saw newly crowned World Champion Casey Stoner put his Repsol Honda on pole again with a best lap of 1’31.861 to equal the record of 12 pole positions in a single season set by five-time 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan. Dani Pedrosa was 1.014 seconds behind his team-mate to take the second spot on the starting grid, with Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies lapping a tenth behind the Spaniard to claim the final spot on the front row. Pramac Racing’s Randy de Puniet concluded his strong practice performances, just missing a front-row start with a time 0.061s behind Spies placing him on row two for the second time this season. Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) lapped three-tenths behind De Puniet to claim a second row start, with Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) completing the row after setting a best lap of 1'33.478. Nicky Hayden heads the third row with his Ducati Team Desmosedici after pacing a tenth behind his Italian team-mate. Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) starts next to the American on the eighth grid position after setting a time just over a tenth behind Hayden. The Italian suffered a crash just as the chequered flag was shown but was up and walking away immediately. Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) suffered a mechanical failure in the early part of the one hour qualifying. The Spaniard was able to get aboard his spare bike to finish the session in ninth which puts him in the final spot on row three for Sunday’s race. Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) completed the top ten, with Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Pramac Racing’s Loris Capirossi, who sports the number 58 on his machine in honour of Marco Simoncelli, joining the Czech rider on row four.