Stoner on pole for Dutch GP

Honda’s Australian rider Casey Stoner will start from pole in today’s Dutch Moto GP after posting the fastest time in a rain-hampered qualifying session here yesterday. Despite numerous rain breaks the sun came out in the final minutes to allow Stoner to snatch the 41st pole position of his career—his 37th in Moto GP—by a margin of 115 thousandths of a second from Spanish teammate Dani Pedrosa. Another Spaniard, Jorge Lorenzo, was third fastest in a session that was twice stopped because of the rain falling on the track. Stoner admitted he was still feeling the effects of a heavy fall during practice earlier yesterwday. “This morning was probably one of my biggest crashes, which is saying something! The crash really knocked the wind out of me, I hurt my head, neck, wrist, knee and shoulder, it was a bad one for sure,” said the Australian. “The team did a really great job, they kept their heads down even when I wasn’t riding to my full potential or the bike’s full potential and when we were struggling to get the rear tyre to work, they didn’t give up.” Pedrosa had dominated qualifying before Stoner’s late surge. “We did a very good job in all the practice sessions and I’m happy with qualifying, even though I missed the pole position at the very end,” said the Spaniard.“The target was to be on the front row because the first corner here is very close and tight, and to work hard to get a good race pace, I think we did everything well.” Pedrosa had posted the quickest lap ahead of Lorenzo and Italy’s Andrea Dovizioso before the riders were forced inside for the first time on the day. Stoner languished in ninth position when the second rain break intervened but, in the final five minutes of the session, the Australian, using soft tyres, surged up to third place and then moved to the top of the standings with a time of 1min 33.713sec. Stoner currently sits second in the overall standings, 25 points behind championship leader Lorenzo. In what will be his final race at Assen before retiring at the end of the season, Stoner is looking for his second win here to add to his victory in 2008. Last year’s winner here, Ben Spies of Yamaha, will start from sixth on the grid, with Germany’s Stefan Bradl fourth on a Honda, and Britain’s Cal Crutchlow in fifth. from gulf times.