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Edited Date/Time
1/25/2012 4:15pm
Stoner takes pole in Valencia
October 26, 2008
NEWLY-crowned world champion Valentino Rossi suffered another bout of Valencia misery when he could only clock the 10th-fastest time in qualifying for the final race of the MotoGP season.
Outgoing world champion Casey Stoner of Australia took pole on his Ducati ahead of Honda duo Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden.
Rossi, with eight world titles to his name and six in the top class, fell off his machine in the 2006 race here wand broke his hand in 2007.
Now the Italian has a mountain to climb if he is to set a new record on Sunday.
With 357 points, he needs 11 more points to beat his own mark for points scored in a season (367 in 2005) and equalled by Stoner in 2007.
"I have had two bad years at Valencia and I want to erase those memories with a good result this year," said Yamaha rider Rossi.
"In 2006 I fell and I lost the championship and last year I broke my hand and lost second place in the championship. It's not the best circuit for Yamaha but I won here the first year with them and I want to win again on Sunday."
Stoner captured his ninth pole position of the year, clocking 1min 31.502sec, and the 19th of his career in the MotoGP class.
"This afternoon we struggled a bit at the beginning of the session to get a decent setup; we were a long way off the times," said the Australian.
"We tried something a little bit different in the rear shock and it seemed to really help us. We got a lot more feeling in the middle of the turn and were able to corner harder.
"Then we threw on the qualifying tyres and were quite lucky there - it had looked like it was going to rain and I'd end up at the back of the grid.
October 26, 2008
NEWLY-crowned world champion Valentino Rossi suffered another bout of Valencia misery when he could only clock the 10th-fastest time in qualifying for the final race of the MotoGP season.
Outgoing world champion Casey Stoner of Australia took pole on his Ducati ahead of Honda duo Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden.
Rossi, with eight world titles to his name and six in the top class, fell off his machine in the 2006 race here wand broke his hand in 2007.
Now the Italian has a mountain to climb if he is to set a new record on Sunday.
With 357 points, he needs 11 more points to beat his own mark for points scored in a season (367 in 2005) and equalled by Stoner in 2007.
"I have had two bad years at Valencia and I want to erase those memories with a good result this year," said Yamaha rider Rossi.
"In 2006 I fell and I lost the championship and last year I broke my hand and lost second place in the championship. It's not the best circuit for Yamaha but I won here the first year with them and I want to win again on Sunday."
Stoner captured his ninth pole position of the year, clocking 1min 31.502sec, and the 19th of his career in the MotoGP class.
"This afternoon we struggled a bit at the beginning of the session to get a decent setup; we were a long way off the times," said the Australian.
"We tried something a little bit different in the rear shock and it seemed to really help us. We got a lot more feeling in the middle of the turn and were able to corner harder.
"Then we threw on the qualifying tyres and were quite lucky there - it had looked like it was going to rain and I'd end up at the back of the grid.
Thanks 'dude.
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