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Stoner takes pole in Aragón


In phenomenal shape during qualifying for the Gran Premio A-Style de Aragón, the Australian secured his second pole of the season, outpacing Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo and the in-form Dani Pedrosa.

Achieving his first pole since the season opener in Qatar, Casey Stoner clocked the top time during Saturday’s qualifying at Aragón, demonstrating a blistering pace on the Spanish circuit. Riding his Ducati Desmosedici GP10, the Australian became the first and only racer to go under the 1’49” mark this weekend, with a best lap time of 1’48.942 on his penultimate attempt.

Maintaining his remarkable qualifying streak, Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo will begin from the front row for the 15th consecutive race, a record that dates back to last year’s Malaysia event. The Fiat Yamaha rider finished 0.309s behind Stoner, marking a best time of 1’49.251.

Throughout the session, Dani Pedrosa fought for pole position, and while on his final lap, the Repsol Honda rider seemed to be on track for pole, emerging from the second split 0.215s ahead of Stoner. However, in pushing too hard, he ran wide and ultimately secured third place, finishing a fraction over four-tenths of a second off the top spot.

This weekend, consistency has been the strong suit of Nicky Hayden, who narrowly missed a front row start by just 0.163s, landing the session in fourth place. Impressive in fifth, Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) aligned his M1 next to his fellow American’s Ducati, while Randy de Puniet continued his upward trajectory, qualifying his LCR Honda machine in sixth.

Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha), taking seventh on the timesheet, led the third row, finishing 1.075s behind Stoner. Both Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) were within a tenth of a second of the reigning World Champion, while Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar) rounded out the top ten.

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