Stoner storms to fourth straight Island pole

By pekal on Saturday, 15 October 2011

Casey Stoner has set himself up for an assault on his fifth straight Phillip Island victory with his fourth consecutive pole position here and his 11th of a dominant 2011 season for the Honda star.

Stoner gave himself an early birthday present – he turns 26 on race day – by recording a best lap of 1m 29.975s to beat closest challenger Jorge Lorenzo on the #1 Yamaha by 0.473 of a second, with Marco Simoncelli’s Honda rounding out the front row another 0.151 away.

“Once we put the soft rear tyre on we were able to go quite a chunk faster,” said Stoner.

“Today we managed to get the bike really comfortable and turning the way we wanted it to. We’re still looking for a bit more rear grip but I think everyone’s in the same boat there.”

Stoner went to the top with 15 minutes of the one-hour session to go, then improved with the first sub-90-second lap of the weekend, a 1:29.981, on his 19th tour of the 4.448km track. One lap later he had set the 1:29.975 that was good enough for pole.

On the second row, claiming his own best MotoGP grid spot and Suzuki’s best at the Island, is Alvaro Bautista, just six-hundredths of a second clear of Andrea Dovizioso, whose Honda the Spaniard used to give him a highly effective tow on his best lap.

Just to underline how this track brings out the best in people, Nicky Hayden will start from his highest 2011 grid position after bringing his Ducati through to sixth spot and the outside of the second row.

The man who used to dominate proceedings here, Valentino Rossi, is still visibly struggling both with his Ducati and the injured finger that has the Italian taking painkillers in the attempt to get more comfortable in his work. The winner here from 2001-2005 will start from 13th.

Two riders came to grief in the session. First Ben Spies dropped his Yamaha at the super-quick Turn 3, went to the Medical Centre for a check-up and was able to get back into the session, ending up seventh.

Then Hiroshi Aoyama lost the Honda at the exit from Siberia and picked himself up gingerly, but was also able to rejoin and qualified 12th.

Australia’s Damian Cudlin, on the Ducati normally ridden by Hector Barbera, was spat off on the way into Turn 4 in morning free practice and had a desperate struggle in the qualifying hour.

“I landed very heavily on my left side,” said the 28-year-old ruefully.

“I feel like I’ve been shot out of a cannon – it’s taken a lot of bark off from below my ribs to the top of my thigh and I just can’t move around on the bike.”

Cudlin’s best time of 1:36.666 put him almost four-tenths of a second outside the 107% qualifying mark.