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Pedrosa on pole at Aussie MotoGP
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By Agencies
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 | | Spain's Dani Pedrosa was just two-tenths of a second outside the Phillip Island track record |
Dani Pedrosa, Spanish Honda rider, beat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi and newly crowned world champion Casey Stoner to pole position for Sunday's Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island.
Pedrosa clocked the fastest lap time of 1 minute 29.201 seconds to take pole position, 0.218 seconds faster than former world champion Valentino Rossi, with local favourite Stoner third quickest on his Ducati, 0.615 seconds off the pace. Stoner, who clinched the world title two weeks ago in Japan, led qualifying early on Saturday before Pedrosa fired in the fastest lap late in the session with a time that was just two-tenths of a second slower than American Nicky Hayden's lap record which was set last year. Hayden, who claimed the world title in 2006, will start from fourth position on his Honda.
Pedrosa, currently third in the championship behind Stoner, claimed his third pole position of the season, and the Spaniard, who is not noted as a wet-weather rider, said he hoped the rain would hold off for Sunday's race.
Of the eight races Stoner has won this season, two were from fourth place on the grid.
Meanwhile Rossi, seven-time world champion, voiced dissatisfaction with his Yamaha team in the build-up to the Phillip Island race."If we want to win the title again then we need the people in Japan to put in more effort." Valentino Rossi speaks out on his Yamaha team
"If nothing changes, I can look for another opportunity.
"Yamaha have to show me something now, make a good bike for 2008 otherwise I could make a change."
Rossi, 28, is due to become a free agent when his Yamaha contract runs out after the 2008 season.
"Yamaha have to understand the job I did for them, now I wait for a reaction from Yamaha because next year is the last year of my contract," said the Italian, who won the world title five years in a row from 2001 to 2005, three times with Honda and twice with Yamaha.
"If we want to win the title again then we need the people in Japan to put in more effort," he said.
"We need to be more aggressive and brave in the development decisions."
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