Stoner on pole for British Grand Prix

Australian Casey Stoner put his Honda on pole position for the British Grand Prix on Saturday while Cal Crutchlow’s hopes of home glory disappeared when he was ruled out with a broken collarbone.

Stoner, the 2007 world champion who will be starting his 150th grand prix in all categories on Sunday, made sure of his fourth pole in six races with a time of two minutes 02,020 seconds.

That was a lap record and more than a second faster than last year’s pole set by Yamaha’s world champion Jorge Lorenzo.

Italy’s Marco Simoncelli, also on a Honda, was second fastest in a dry session ahead of Spaniard Lorenzo.

Stoner can become the first Honda rider to win three successive MotoGP races since Valentino Rossi in 2003 and few would bet against the 25-year-old after he dominated Friday practice in mixed conditions.

“Looking at the way we went this weekend, it doesn’t really matter what conditions tomorrow brings,” said the Australian, knowing it could be wet on Sunday. “I am definitely going to prefer dry...but we feel ready for any conditions. 

“I felt we got quite lucky with pole position today, we tried a couple of things with the bike...we changed the front a little bit and on my best lap I lost the front two or three times,” he added.

“One of them was very small but two were more than I’d like to push.”

Simoncelli hoped to be Stoner’s main adversary, after starting the last race in Spain on pole and then fading to finish sixth, in the absence of Honda’s injured Spanish rider Dani Pedrosa.

“Here I have a better feeling with the bike than in Barcelona,” said the Italian. “I am feeling ready to fight for the podium and victory tomorrow.”

There was bad news for Crutchlow, the sole British rider in the championship, who was ruled out of his home race after falling and fracturing his left collarbone with barely five minutes on the clock.

The Yamaha Tech3 rider clutched his shoulder in pain as he lay on the grass before being taken away on a stretcher.

The British rookie had hoped to shine in front of his home fans, at the circuit where last year he won two superbike races, after finishing seventh in Barcelona last weekend and setting the sixth fastest lap in Friday’s practice.

Crutchlow’s American team mate Colin Edwards, who broke his right collarbone in practice last week for the Spanish Grand Prix, qualified an impressive eighth.

“I suppose the only small consolation for Cal is that Colin was back on the bike less than a week later, so we are optimistic that Cal will be back for the next race at Assen,” said team manager Herve Poncharal.

Italian great Valentino Rossi, who was injured and absent when MotoGP made its return to Silverstone last year for the first time since 1986, was a disappointing 13th on his Ducati and 3,7 seconds off the pace.

Spaniard Maverick Vinales took his first pole in the 125cc category, the 16-year-old beating championship leader and compatriot Nicolas Terol into second place.

There was better news for the British crowd with home rider Scott Redding qualifying second in the Moto2 class behind Spain’s Marc Marquez.