Rossi gives second pole to Yamaha

Valentino Rossi has taken his second pole position in a row after a wet second qualifying session in Jerez.

Showers dogged both the practice and qualifying sessions for the second round of the MotoGP championship. The rain had stopped by the afternoon session but the track was still damp enough to stop anyone bettering their times from Friday’s dry qualifying session.

Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha rider Rossi put in 15 laps to get a wet setup for the rain that is forecast for Sunday’s race. He was lapping 13 seconds slower than his fastest lap on Friday, which put him on pole position.

The Spaniards put on a good show for their home crowd with Honda riding Sete Gibernau taking the second fastest time and Carlos Checa surprising everyone by putting the second Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha on the final place on the front of the grid.

Max Biaggi starts the race in fourth position with Makato Tamada and Shinya Nakano finishing off the second row.

Kenny Roberts took the fastest lap of Saturday’s wet session, lapping just 4.6 seconds slower than his dry time but it still leaves him starting the race in 10 place on the grid.

Final times:

1. Rossi (1:40.818), 2. Gibernau (1:41.198), 3. Checa (1:41.427). 4. Biaggi (1.41.546) 5. Tamada (Honda 1.41.631), 6. Nakano (Kawasaki) 1.41.645. 7. Nicky Hayden, Honda, 1.14.911. 8.Colin Edwards (Honda) 1.42.000. 9. Alex Barros (Honda) 1.42.141. 10. Kenny Roberts (Suzuki) 1.42.312. 11.Marco Melandri (Yamaha) 1.42.479. 12. Ruben Xaus (Ducati) 1.42.945. 13 John Hopkins (Suzuki) 1.42.954. 14. Alex Hofmann (Kawasaki) 1.43.004. 15. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 1.43.008. 16. Shane Byrne (Aprilia) 1.43.024. 17. Troy Bayliss (Ducati) 1.43.349. 18, Neil Hodgson(Ducati) 1.43.627. 19 Jeremy McWilliams (Aprilia) 1.43.730. 20 Norick Abe (Yamaha) 1.44.058. 21. Nobuatsu Aoki (Proton) 1.44.058. 22. Kurtis Roberts (Proton) 1.545.899.

The WCMs of Michel Fabrizio and Chris Burns failed to qualify with times of 1.48.485 and 1.48.602.