Valencia MotoGP: Casey Stoner romps to pole

Casey Stoner dominated the final qualifying session of 2009 as British rider James Toseland was humbled by reigning World Superbike champion Ben Spies in Valencia today.

Aussie Stoner claimed only his third pole position of the season today when a best lap of 1.32.256 ended Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo’s hopes of a home pole in front of a sun-drenched but windswept qualifying crowd.

Stoner beat Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa by 0.263s to keep his bid for a third successive won firmly on course.

Lorenzo was just 0.018s behind Pedrosa as he claimed his 16th front row in 17 outings to keep Fiat Yamaha team-mate and world champion Valentino Rossi back in fourth place.

Rossi, who lost the 2006 world title in a final race shootout with Nicky Hayden in 2006, could only clock a best time 1.32.922 to finish a massive 0.666s away from Stoner’s blistering pace on the factory Ducati GP9.

Three Yamaha YZR-M1 machines will start from inside the top five with American Colin Edwards claiming the fifth best time for the sixth time in the last seven races.

The 35-year-old set a best time of 1.33.085 to finish just 0.163s adrift of Rossi. Nicky Hayden will start from the second row for only the second time in his first season with Ducati, the Kentucky rider finishing in an impressive sixth place.

He posted a best time of 1.33.154 to finish 0.898s behind team-mate Stoner. Arguably the performance of the day though came from Texan Spies, who will start his first race for Yamaha from ninth on the grid.

The reigning World Superbike champion set a best time of 1.33.539 to finish ahead of factory Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso and a host of other big names. But Spies’ impressive display proved a nightmare for 28-year-old Toseland, who could only finish 14th fastest.

Toseland, who lost his ride for 2010 to Spies, clocked a best time of 1.34.107 and ended up 0.6s adrift of Spies.