Rossi takes pole

Marco Melandri crashed in the the Friday practice session and broke his thumb so only rode in the qualifying session and not the practice because riders are only aloud one special pain killing injection per day.

Niel Hodgson finished the session in 14th place with Shane Byrne and Jeremy McWilliams in 18th and 19th.

Starting positions:

1. V.Rossi, 2. S.Gibernau, 3. L.Capirossi, 4. T.Bayliss, 5. C.Edwards, 6. N.Hayden, 7. C.Checa, 8. M.Biaggi, 9. A.Barros, 10. R.Xaus, 11. M.Melandri, 12. S.Nakano, 13. Ke.Roberts, 14. N.Hodgson, 15. M.Tamada, 16. J.Hopkins, 17. N.Abe, 18. S.Byrne, 19. J.McWilliams, 20. M.Fabrizio, 21. A.Hofmann, 22. N.Aoki, 23. Ku.Roberts, 24. C.Burns

Valentino Rossi has taken the pole position for the British GP at Donington Park while Loris Capirossi gave Ducati its first front row this season.

Rossi set a new record with his 1:28.720 qualifying time beating Honda rival Sete Gibernau to the top spot by 0.432 seconds.

Troy Bayliss looked like the man to take the final place on the front row but it was his Factory Ducati team-mate Loris Capirossi the beat him to the line finishing just 0.057 seconds behind Gibernau.

Bayliss was relegated to fourth place on the grid followed by the Hondas of Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden. Hayden set the fastest time in the first qualifying session but never managed to beat his time the second time out.

Carlos Checa tok seventh place followed by Max Biaggi and Alex Barros. Barros was on the latest RC211V but crashed it at the beginning of the second session so had to complete it on the older bike.