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Written by:
Colin Young
05/17/2008 - 12:54 PM
Le Mans, France
Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa (Photo: Honda Pro Images) ยป More Photos
World championship leader Dani Pedrosa has scored his first pole position of the season ahead of tomorrow's French Grand Prix in Le Mans. The tiny Spaniard went almost one second under the previous qualifying record held by Colin Edwards to bump the American rider to second place on the grid. Pedrosa's pole time was 1'32.647.
World champion Casey Stoner qualified third making it a Honda, Yamaha, Ducati front row for the fifth round of the MotoGP series.
Yamaha teammates Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo were fourth and fifth respectively, with Rossi aiming for back-to-win victories following his last start win in China.
But 28 laps of this compact track, with a series of drag-strip straights and heavy braking, is tough work and as Pedrosa noted a front row start is an advantage.
"I'm happy about this pole, it is important for this race because the times are very close, many riders are fast," said Pedrosa after a dry session despite threatening rain. "It will be a difficult
The fastest 12 riders were spilt by just 1.076s with home French hero Randy de Puniet the final one of that group completing the fourth row of the grid.
Edwards starts from the front for the fourth time this season, with the Texan still in search of that elusive first MotoGP race win. He was convinced he had secured a second consecutive pole late in the session until he came across Marco Melandri's Ducati at crucial stage on his final flying lap.
"I guess Marco forgot I'm from Texas, I usually carry a gun with me and if I had one I might have had a shot at him," said a joking Edwards. "He's a friend of mine but he didn't look to see if anyone was behind, you can't afford to do that at this track."
Edwards is confident of his chances saying his Yamaha was more comfortable in final practice compared to Friday's "nervous" set-up.
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