|
|
2008-07-20 Stoner gets Laguna Seca pole
 Be first to comment this story
 Casey Stoner took 5th consecutive pole position and demonstrated race-pace that was unmatched by other riders in Laguna Seca today, which usually means that tomorrow we will watch another "hit the front and run away" races. Valentino Rossi took that second position on the grid that he claimed to be important to even have the chance to battle with Stoner, but according to his race-pace, he needs to find one more second on race tyres in order to be competitive to Stoner. Nicky Hayden was best Honda and Michelin rider in Laguna Seca qualifying in 3rd place, hoping to get his first podium in 2008 in place where he won in 2005 and 2006.
Jorge Lorenzo obviously has no problems to learn new track, as he took 4th place on the grid. Another Yamaha will start from second row tomorrow, and that will be James Toseland. Randy de Puniet completed second row.
Colin Edwards is one of home riders from which we expected more, but situation for him does not look to bright, as he seems to be in trouble to find right race-pace. On the other hand, Chris Vermeulen qualified in 8th place, but he seems to be only rider to have race-pace at least close to one of Valentino Rossi. Andrea Dovizioso qualified 9th, with Toni Elias completing top 10 qualifiers in Laguna Seca.
Laguna Seca Qualifying - full results
Front row claims after qualifying in Laguna Seca:
Casey Stoner:
I'm happy with how we're looking in race trim and with the fact we're on pole again. I didn't manage to get the most out of the first two qualifiers because the front tyre, which is working perfectly with the race rear, was a bit too soft for the qualifying and I wasn't confident enough push it 100%. With the third one I gave it my best shot and we've come out with another pole. Congratulations to the team, who are working as hard as always, and Bridgestone for another fantastic job.
Valentino Rossi - 2nd:
I'm pleased with this result and I think we've done a good job today. This morning, even though it was very cold, we were able to make some good steps forward, especially with the suspension setting, and I was able to be quite fast. This afternoon we were able to do a long simulation and this was very important to help us understand how the tyres will be tomorrow. It seems they are quite good, but this is a very hard race for tyres! It's also a hard race physically and so I know that tomorrow will be a big challenge. Second place is good for us and I think we've done a lot better in the practice this weekend than we have in the last couple of races, so I'm happy about this. Casey is very fast and I don't know exactly how to beat him - maybe I need to start 30 seconds earlier! Whatever happens a good start is going to be very important and then I will just try to stay with him and keep pushing.
Nicky Hayden - 3rd:
Qualifying was difficult, there were many guys crashing. Qualifying is so important here because it's so hard to pass, so some guys are willing to pay a big price for a good grid position. Our race pace isn't exactly blazing but it's really nice to be on the front row in front of the home crowd, the support is awesome. I know tomorrow's going to be really tough, Casey [Stoner] is on fire right now and we're having a few little issues, but the team's done a good job and I feel like we deserve a good result. Hoping won't get it though, so we'll come in here tomorrow, ride hard and see if we can't pull something out. I'm a little bit nervous. Truth is, the tyres we've got in our allocation are a little out of the range, so the warmer the better for us. We changed the bike a little bit to make the tyres work more and the qualifying tyres were awesome. Actually I felt like I maybe left a couple of tenths in them but I was running about as hard as I could. Hopefully we can put on a good show tomorrow and not less this guy disappear. A podium would be great, but to try to fight with Casey would be a long shot. We never give up, anything can happen when we line up, so we'll come in here, try to have fun, try my hardest and I know I'll have plenty of support. I'm looking forward to it.
|
Back to MotoGP news home
|
|
|
