Dani Pedrosa breaks record to claim Indianapolis pole position in a highside crash fest

From twowheelsblog

After an accident packed Moto3 qualifying practice at Indianpolis, MotoGP’s qualifying saw more of the same problems with the slippery and dirty track surface. Casey Stoner was the first victim to suffer a massive highside just a nine minutes into the session. The Australian was on his fourth lap had just completed turn 13 when his machine lost rear grip and turned around on him and threw him violently into the air. Stoner had to be stretchered off and was seen holding his right ankle and was transported to the circuit medical center with a suspected ankle fracture. The session had to red flagged to remove the debris left by his Honda. He was later diagnosed with a torn ligament of his right ankle and will have to undergo further tests, but Dr. Marco Russo gave him the green light to race tomorrow if he wants to and he’ll be taking off in 6th

Ben Spies also suffered a massive highside in the same exact are as Stoner when he was on a flyer, but he only got the wind knocked out of him, but he managed to walk away and returned to track in the final minutes but was unable to improve his position an he’ll be starting on row 2 in 4th. The third victim of the turn 13 to 14 area was Nicky Hayden. The American also suffered a high side with his Ducati with eight minutes left and he lost consciousness for a few minutes circuit and the session was again red flagged. He transported to the medical center to undergo a medical examination and then sent to the Methodist Hospital to rule out any injuries.

In this dramatic crash fest Dani Pedrosa claimed this third pole position of the season with a best lap of 1.38.813 and breaking the qualifying record, while Jorge Lorenzo slowly stripped away his weekend problems to take second and just one tenth from the pole sitter.

Andrea Dovizioso took the final front row spot, but when he was on his last flyer he was hampered by Aleix Espargaro. Stefan Bradl had another impressive session as he qualified between Spies and Stoner in fifth.

Cal Crutchlow finished in seventh for Yamaha Tech3 while Alvaro Bautista took 9th. Closing out the top ten was Randy de Puniet while Valentino Rossi continued his horrific qualifying trend. This time the Italian finished in a very lowly 11th and three tenths slower than the Power Electronics rider and just 0.040s faster than Aleix Espargaro.

CRT wild-cards Steve Rapp and Aaron Yates both qualified for tomorrow’s race as they were Pedrosa’s 107% qualifying time.

MotoGP Indianapolis qualifying results:

01- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’38.813
02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.100
03- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.422
04- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.466
05- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 0.624
06- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.652
07- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.736
08- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.935
09- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.259
10- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 1.624
11- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.950