Rossi in pole position for title bid at Valencia
Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi will launch his bid
for the MotoGP World Championship title in the best possible
circumstances tomorrow after sealing pole position for the
final race of the season in today's qualifying session at
Valencia. The Italian repeatedly smashed the pole record here
to make sure of the top spot, eventually clocking a best lap
of 1'31.002 to hold off the twin challenge of Troy Bayliss
and Loris Capirossi (Ducati), who join him on the front row.
Tomorrow, in front of an expected crowd of over 120,000 fans,
the five-time MotoGP World Champion will defend an eight-point
advantage over Nicky Hayden (Honda) as he aims to secure his
sixth consecutive title.
Hayden, the only man with a mathematical chance of denying
Rossi, starts from the second row after qualifying fifth fastest,
meaning there are three riders between the championship contenders
on the grid. Unfortunately Rossi's Camel Yamaha team-mate
Colin Edwards is not one of those, having struggled to significantly
improve his lap times on a qualifying tyre this afternoon.
Nevertheless, the in-form Texan has set an impressive pace
throughout the day on race rubber. In the morning free practice,
when Rossi also topped the time sheets, Edwards was fourth
fastest and in the afternoon he lapped consistently inside
the circuit record before being forced to settle for tenth
place on the grid.
Valentino Rossi (1st - 1'31.002; 30 laps)
"We knew we had great potential with the qualifying tyre
because we tried it this morning in the free practice and
then this afternoon I did three very good laps, each one better
and better and then the final lap was very fast. To do a 1'31.0
was really incredible. This pole position is crucial for me
because it is an important part of my race tactics to start
from the front. The session couldn't have gone much better
for us because we have a couple of other riders between myself
and Nicky. It is a shame Colin is not one of them but he has
a good race pace so hopefully he can help me out like he did
at Estoril. The team has done a great job this weekend, especially
with the balance of the bike. Now we need to make one or two
small changes for tomorrow and then we'll just wait and see.
I hope the weather will be like this - for the riders and
for the fans because it looks like there will be a great crowd!
Now we have the most important thirty laps of the season left
to complete our target."
Colin Edwards (10th - 1'31.711; 28 laps)
"I'm really pleased with the race setting although we
could still make a little more time up in the second sector
so that is something we will look at in the warm-up tomorrow.
I'm also having a slight problem under braking into turn one
but it's good to know that even with those small setbacks
we are still right up there in terms of the pace we can expect
to see at the front tomorrow. The bike is a lot better than
yesterday - we were confident that the changes we had in mind
would work and they did, so I have to give my thanks to the
team for that. They've done a great job on the bike and we're
all set to give a good showing in the last race. Unfortunately
I wasn't able to get it done on the qualifying tyre today
so the starting position is a little further back than we
would like but I know this circuit really well and hopefully
I can use that knowledge to make as many passes as possible
at the start of the race, get up there and help Valentino
win this championship."
Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director
"We couldn't have asked for a better starting position
for the most important race of the season but the main thing
is that Valentino's general feeling with the bike is good
and he is comfortable going into such a big day tomorrow.
Of course, anything can still happen but we feel ready for
this last battle and happy in the knowledge that our bike
will be competitive enough to go out and race. Unfortunately
Colin wasn't able to take advantage of the qualifying tyre
today but we're pleased with his pace on race rubber and we
expect a big effort from him tomorrow. If he can get a good
start then I'm sure he can stay with the lead group and help
out Valentino, just like he did at Estoril. We are ready for
D-Day!"
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