Rossi on pole for Czech GP

Valentiono Rossi is on pole for round 10 of the MotoGP world championship at Brno in the Czech Republic.

Rossi spent the most time out on the track in the final qualifying session for Sunday’s race putting in23 laps to get a best time of 1:58.769, almost a second faster than the circuits fastest lap, set by him last year.

Sete Gibernau improved his time by almost two seconds from Friday’s qualifying session to take second place on the grid with Max Biaggi and Loris Capirossi taking the last two places on the front row, less than two tenths of a second down.

Carlos Checa came in fifth with a time of 1:59.295 followed by Troy Bayliss, Nicky Hayden and Tohru Ukawa to make up the second row.

After a promising start that saw him top of the table in Friday’s free practice session Colin Edwards slipped down to 12th on the grid with a time of 2:00.627.

Shinya Nakano missed the second qualifying session after highsiding his bike in the morning’s practice. The d’Antin Yamaha rider was taken to hospital with concussion and it looks unlikely that he will race on Sunday despite sustaining no serious injuries.

Marco Melandri also crashed his Fortuna Yamaha at slow speed in the second session. The 250cc world champion was uninjured but the crash left him unable to improve on his times from the first qualifying session so he will start in 17th.

British rider Jeremy McWilliams looked as though he was finally starting to get the best out of the new Proton KR5 but gearbox trouble in the second qualifying session saw him pull in after only two laps leaving him to start 21st on the grid.

Check back regularly throughout the weekend for full updates on all the action from the Czech GP.

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