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STONER ON POLE AND HAYDEN ON SECOND ROW FOR SEASON FINALE

Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner will start the final round of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship from the front of the grid after a dominant performance in today's single qualifying practice for the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana. The Australian was rarely troubled at the top of the time sheets, whilst his team-mate Nicky Hayden was also impressive as he lapped sixth fastest in a late charge.

Today's result sees Hayden maintain his record of never qualifying outside the front two rows at Valencia, the circuit where he clinched the 2006 title, whilst for Stoner this is his second pole position at the Spanish track in successive seasons. Tomorrow the 2007 World Champion chases a repeat of his win here last year and a hat-trick of back-to-back victories to round off the 2009 season.

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team)  (1st; 1'32.256)
"We've been fastest in every session so far so we have to be pleased with that and the fact we were able to do most of the lap times we did on a race tyre today is a good sign. I felt pretty comfortable out there but one of the softer rear tyres pushed the front that bit harder and it folded on me in four or five corners. It's a shame because potentially we could have gone that bit quicker but I can't complain. We're on pole position again, in good shape for the race tomorrow and looking forward to it. Hopefully the weather holds out because it would be nice for everybody to end the season with a good race."

NICKY HAYDEN - (Ducati Marlboro Team)  (6th; 1'33.154)
"We have made a lot of progress from yesterday but we have had to work hard and make huge changes to the bike. I know it's not usually a good sign when you can't roll something competitive out on a Friday but that's what we're aiming for and for the moment my team are doing a great job in the time we have available. The bike was more much enjoyable to ride today and after being fifth this morning I was hoping for the same result this afternoon because that is my worst qualifying result here at Valencia. We'll take sixth though - it's not my best qualifying position but from where we started the year in Qatar I think I was last on the grid and in the hospital so to end it with a second-row start is pleasing. Tomorrow is going to be a tough one as always but we'll try to get a good start, make sure we don't get squeezed in down in turn one and have some fun. I'm looking forward to it."

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HONDA RACING INFORMATION

Valencia Grand Prix, Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia
Qualifying, Saturday November 7 2009

Weather: cool, sunny and windy
Ambient temperature: 22 degrees
Track temperature: 28 degrees

PEDROSA TO START FINAL 2009 SHOWDOWN FROM FRONT ROW

Local hero Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) will start
the final race of the 2009 MotoGP World
Championship from the front row of the grid after
going second quickest in this afternoon's
windswept Valencia GP qualifying session.

The Spanish star ended the outing just 0.263
seconds off pole-position man Casey Stoner
(Ducati), to secure his tenth front-row start of
the 2009 season. With just three minutes
remaining he was fourth but a superb final run
promoted him to the front row, despite the
blustery conditions which gave riders plenty to
think about. The wind itself was not the only
problem, because the strong gusts were blowing
dust onto the track surface, compromising grip from one corner to the next.

Tomorrow Pedrosa and Stoner will fight for more
than race victory, they are also contesting third
overall in the 2009 MotoGP series, with Pedrosa
currently 11 points down on his Australian rival.

The pair are the class acts at this tight, tricky
track. Pedrosa won the 2007 Valencia race and
finished second last year, while Stoner won in
2008 and finished runner-up on his previous
visit. But this time it looks like Jorge Lorenzo
(Yamaha) may also join in the fun, the 2009
MotoGP runner-up taking the final front row slow,
a slender two hundredths of a second slower than
Pedrosa. Today's pace was such that reigning
World Champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) was relegated to the second row.

Pedrosa's race pace is good but he believes his
crew can still find a few tenths in morning
warm-up which will help him take the fight to
Stoner. And Pedrosa aims to start the race with
another of his lightning-fast getaways.

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) was Honda's second
best today, qualifying seventh quickest to lead
row three, missing out on a second-row start by
just two tenths of a second. The Frenchman may
well have done even better if he hadn't crashed
at turn one with 15 minutes of the session
remaining. He was fourth quickest when he
tumbled. De Puniet was unhurt and completed the
session on his number-two bike but was unable to up his pace.

Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini) will line up
alongside de Puniet for his final race with
Fausto Gresini's squad. The 2006 Portuguese GP
winner was eighth quickest, a mere 0.084 seconds down on his fellow RCV rider.

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) knows he will
need another great start - like the start he
achieved in Malaysia two weeks ago - if he is to
run in the front pack. The Italian qualified
tenth quickest after struggling to reproduce his
morning pace in the afternoon session.

Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) had
been ninth fastest in the first two practice
sessions, which had him hopeful of securing a
third-row start, but this afternoon he struggled
to get his RCV turned, a vital machine
characteristic at this ultra-tight track.

Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda) was 17th quickest and
will be going for another points score tomorrow.

HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2nd - 1m 32.519s.
"I'm very pleased to be on the front row here,
and the qualifying session went quite well for
us. We're still not at 100 per cent in set-up
terms - especially in T3 where we're losing some
time. So if we can get that sorted out then I
think our pace can be quite strong tomorrow, and
we could maybe have challenged for pole position
this afternoon. The front row is the important
thing though, and now I'm really looking forward
to tomorrow's race. I think everyone's motivation
for this race is very high and it should be a
good battle - and a difficult one. I hope I'm
there at the front fighting for the win because
this would be a great way to finish the season
for me and for the Repsol Honda Team. The other
riders are strong though, so it won't be easy.
I'm excited about tomorrow and I hope to find
that little bit extra on race day. For sure there
will be many fans here as always and the atmosphere will be very special."

Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda: 7th - 1m 33.391s.
"Well... we are not completely happy with our
result but I am the second HRC rider on the grid
and this is very positive!. This is a track I
have gone well at in the past and since the
beginning of the weekend I have been lapping
consistently fast. In race trim early in the
session I was pretty fast and once I switched to
qualifiers I started to make my way up the
timesheets. Unfortunately I came across a gearbox
issue with 15 minutes to go and crashed at turn
one. We will investigate to see what happened.
Anyway, our race overall package is quite good
and hopefully we will be fighting at the front again."

Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 8th - 1m 33.475s.
"That was much better and I actually think we
could have even finished fifth or sixth this
afternoon but it wasn't possible because of the
amount of traffic out there at the end of the
session - it was more like a 125cc race! Having
said that the position is good enough to allow us
to fight for a good result tomorrow. I just need
to get a good start and hope that the front group
can throw me a line and pull me along for a few
laps! The track has improved a lot since
yesterday because it is cleaner but the wind was
probably stronger today and even though it
doesn't affect the MotoGP bikes as much as it
does a 125 or 250 it is still a problem."

Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 10th - 1m 33.678s.
"So, we really need another good start tomorrow.
We proved that was possible at the last race
where I qualified quite far back but came through
quickly. However, I'm frustrated with how today
went because we were much closer in the morning
but couldn't convert that into a competitive
qualifying performance. In race trim we have one
second to improve to be on the pace of the
leaders, and that is a big margin and means we
have plenty of work to do tonight. We made some
improvements in both sessions, but we still
needed to find some set-up solutions which will
allow me to get the maximum from the soft option
Bridgestones. I need to be quick off the line
tomorrow because starting from the fourth row
makes everything more difficult. It's the last
race of the season though, and we'll be giving it everything."

Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 12th - 1m 33.844s.
"We didn't really manage to improve the lap times
from the morning to the afternoon and we're
starting quite far back on the grid. We're
struggling to get the bike turning in the tight
corners and we need to work on that overnight to
try and find a better solution for tomorrow.
Actually the tyres are working well now and my
race pace is closer to the others than my
qualifying time was so hopefully we can be in the mix tomorrow."

Gabor Talmacsi, Scot Honda: 17th - 1m 34.357s.
"That was the last qualifying session of the
season, and I want to say that I'm quite happy.
I'm not at the very bottom of the board and my
lap times are competitive. The feeling with hard
tyres is good and I enjoyed riding today. If this
were my first GP in this class, I would rate it
as a good base to start with. You know - as a
former 125 World Champion, I thought I knew
enough about this business. On the contrary,
having a MotoGP bike to ride, I have had to
tackle different problems and I've had many
things to learn. Nevertheless, I proved I can
stay in this category, and this was always my main target for the season."

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Fantastic fifth gives Edwards boost for season finale

Colin Edwards qualified on the second row of the grid in Valencia today to give his hopes of securing a brilliant top five finish in the 2009 MotoGP world championship a huge boost.

At a sunny but windswept Ricardo Tormo circuit, Edwards took full advantage of improvements with the front-end handling of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 machine to set the fifth quickest time.

Forced to take anti-inflammatory tablets to ease the discomfort of a recurring neck injury, a best lap of 1.33.085 clinched fifth on the grid for the sixth time in the last seven races and saw Edwards finish just 0.163s behind reigning world champ ion Valentino Rossi.

Trailing Andrea Dovizioso by just four-points going into tomorrow's final race, Edwards is confident he can overhaul the Italian to clinch fifth in the final points standings.

Finishing behind dominant the quartet of Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa would be a remarkable achievement for the popular 35-year-old, who is determined to end 2009 on a high to reward the hard work of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha crew throughout 2009.

James Toseland will start his final MotoGP appearance for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team from 14th place on the grid.

The British rider set his fastest time of 1.34.107 on his 28th and final lap and while disappointed with his grid position, the 28-year-old is optimistic he can bow out in style with a challenge for a top ten finish in tomorrow's 30-lap race .

Colin Edwards 5th 1.33.085 - 28 laps

"I seem to be pretty much stuck with that fifth place! I know I run number five but it doesn't mean I have to qualify in that place every race. But as I've said before, I've got to be pleased to be finishing next best behind those four guys, or should I say aliens. They are riding out of this world and to be right behind them means I'm doing the best job I can and that's about as good as I can hope for at the moment. On my first couple of softer tyres I ran into a bit of traffic, which was a bit frustrating because I knew I could get a good time. We'd softened the front forks and I felt much more comfortable. We've really got the bike turning well this weekend and I think I've got a good race pace. Now the bike turns without running wide and that's helping tyre life too. I'm not sure if I've got the pace of the four in front of me on race tyre s but I wanted to give myself a shot at fifth in the championship and I've done that. Dovizioso is a few places behind me but I just need to focus on doing my own job. I'm sure my neck won't be a problem tomorrow. I first hurt it when I crashed in Germany last year and every few months I do something to aggravate it. This time I was in the shower reaching for the shampoo and the way I turned my head it just seized up. It won't stop me from trying to end a brilliant season on a high and giving my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 something to cheer about for all their hard work and effort in 2009."

James Toseland 14th 1.34.107 - 28 laps

"The conditions were really difficult out there this afternoon. There was a strong wind and it made reading the track conditions really difficult. The lap times were not brilliant this afternoon but that was because there was quite a lot of dust being blown onto the track and it wasn't easy to find grip. The session certainly didn't go as planned but I feel I've got a good and consistent set-up for the race tomorrow. Starting from 14th on the grid isn't going to be easy at this track. It is quite tight and twisty and that makes it difficult to overtake. My plan is to make a good start and get into a consistent pace and finish the season on a high note for all my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3."

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LORENZO TAKES 16TH FRONT ROW OF SEASON, ROSSI QUALIFIES FOURTH

Jorge Lorenzo qualified third today in the final MotoGP qualifying session of the season in Valencia. It was the 16th time the Spaniard has been on the front row this season, more than any other rider. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate and the 2009 World Champion Valentino Rossi qualified in fourth at the Spanish track, ahead of tomorrow's season finale.

Lorenzo continued from where he had left off yesterday afternoon, making some more improvements to his M1-Bridgestone package throughout the session and going into provisional pole with just over ten minutes remaining. He immediately surrendered his lead to eventual pole-man Stoner however and was eventually moved one place further down when Dani Pedrosa also bettered his time by just 0.018. The 22-year-old is happy to be on the front row however and with a strong race pace he is confident of a good race tomorrow, from which he needs just one point to confirm the runner's-up spot in the championship.

It was a more difficult day for Rossi, who has a somewhat turbulent history with this tight and twisty Spanish circuit. The Italian and his crew were unable to come up with a set-up today that gave them enough grip to allow him to ride as he would like and they are faced with some hard work overnight to improve the situation. A better flying lap near the end of the session was good enough to secure him fourth on the grid so he will be in touch to challenge tomorrow, as long as he is able to make a step forward in warm-up. Rossi's fourth position today sealed him the 2009 best qualifier award, for which he will receive the prize of a new car.

Jorge Lorenzo 
Position: 3rd   Time: 1'32.537   Laps: 30
"I'm happy to have ended the season on the front row, where I have been for all but one race! I am feeling very confident about a good race tomorrow because my bike feels good and I am riding well here. My number one aim tomorrow is to make sure I finish the championship in second and I only need one point to do this, but of course I would also like to finish the season with a good race so I will try to challenge at the front as well. I'm looking forward to riding in front of all the Spanish fans, it's always an amazing atmosphere here for the last race!"

Valentino Rossi 
Position: 4th   Time: 1'32.922   Laps: 25
"Today was not the best day for us. We haven't found the right setting for the bike yet, we've tried hard but we don't have enough grip yet to allow us to go fast. I have to start on the second row and we have quite a big question mark for tomorrow's race. At the end of the session I was able to do some better laps with the softer tyre but unfortunately with these conditions we will have to use the harder tyre tomorrow. We will work tonight and again in the morning warm-up and hopefully we can find a way to improve so that we can race as we would like to. I'm happy about the qualifying award, at least we have one positive thing to take from today!"

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GP de la Comunitat Valenciana, Ricardo Tormo Circuit, 7th November 2009 - Qualifiying

THIRD ROW START FOR ELIAS IN SPANISH SWANSONG
San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Toni Elias will start the final round of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship from the third row of the grid after qualifying eighth fastest on home territory at Valencia. The Spaniard dramatically improved his lap times by 1.4 seconds to move up six places on his free practice classification yesterday, whilst his consistency on race tyres has given the local fans real hope of a top result tomorrow.
It was a reverse scenario for his team-mate Alex de Angelis, who was amongst the frontrunners with the sixth fastest lap of yesterday's session but was unable to significantly improve his pace today. The San Marino rider, who like Elias will be making his final MotoGP appearance for the team tomorrow, qualified on the outside of the fourth row in twelfth place.

Toni Elias (8th 1'33.475): "That was much better and I actually think we could have evenfinished fifth or sixth this afternoon but it wasn't possible because of the amount of traffic out there at the end of the session - it was more like a 125cc race! Having said that the position is good enough to allow us to fight for a good result tomorrow. I just need to get a good start and hope that the front group can throw me a line and pull me along for a few laps! The track has improved a lot since yesterday because it is cleaner but the wind was probably stronger today and even though it doesn't affect the MotoGP bikes as much as it does a 125 or 250 it is still a problem."

Alex De Angelis (12th; 1'33.844): "We didn't really manage to improve the lap times from the morning to the afternoon and we're starting quite far back on the grid. We're struggling to get the bike turning in the tight corners and we need to work on that overnight to try and find a better solution for tomorrow. Actually the tyres are working well now and my race pace is closer to the others than my qualifying time was so hopefully we can be in the mix tomorrow."

Fausto Gresini - Team Manager: "The third row for Toni isn't bad and he can have a good race tomorrow. It is an important race for everybody because it is the end of the season but for both our riders in particular because there is an opportunity there for either of them to take seventh in the championship, which wouldn't be an amazing result but an important one after a tough start to the season. In the second half of the championship the team have done a good job so let's see if we can finish it off in a good way tomorrow."

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Uphill task for Rizla Suzuki pair in season finale
Uphill task for Rizla Suzuki pair in season finale
07/11/2009 15:39pm
Uphill task for Rizla Suzuki pair in season finale

Rizla Suzuki racers Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen have a tough race ahead of them tomorrow after a difficult qualifying session left the pair with a mountain to climb at Valencia.

Capirossi (1'34.097, 25 laps) and Vermeulen (1'34.537, 29 laps) will start tomorrow's 30-lap race from 13th and 18th on the grid respectively, after the pair struggled to get the Suzuki GSV-R to perform at its peak around the 4,005m Spanish circuit, despite their best efforts to find a satisfactory solution. Capirossi did produce his fastest lap of the day right at the very end of the session and still believes he can be in amongst the battle in tomorrow's race, whilst Vermeulen will test a new setting in tomorrow's warm-up to try and find the answers he is looking for.

The air temperatures only reached 22șC today and a strong cool breeze kept the track below 30șC for the whole qualifying session, this too caused problems for the Suzuki pair as they just couldn't get enough heat in the tyres to help them get the optimum performance from the Bridgestone rubber. Casey Stoner secured his third successive pole position on his factory Ducati, with local favourites Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo completing the front row.

Tomorrow's race is the final round of the 2009 season and both Rizla Suzuki riders have a chance of finishing in seventh in the championship - along with Vermeulen having the opportunity of being the only rider this season to record a point scoring finish at every event - so the pair certainly have personal targets to aim for when the lights change to go at 14.00hrs local time (13.00hrs GMT).

Loris Capirossi:

"This is starting to feel normal for us because when we look at the data from the bike, always, always, always when it is cold it is nearly impossible to ride it and this is true again today! It is very cold today and the bike is not making the tyre work well and we have struggled a lot. The team has done a good job because we have tried many different things to get the best set-up, but we just couldn't find the best result. I am quite upset and very frustrated, because we did our best today and we are still near the back of the grid. I feel optimistic for tomorrow and I will certainly fight for the best result in the race. What is most important now is that we work 100% on the 2010 bike, because finding the solutions at the moment for this bike is not very easy."

Chris Vermeulen:

"I'm not happy to be qualifying in 18th and it has been a difficult weekend for us so far. We just can't get a good feeling from the bike in these cold temperatures and the wind seems to be upsetting the bike a lot. It is difficult to get the tyres warm and although we've improved the bike, it is nowhere near enough. We have a bit of work to do tomorrow, but we've got something else we'll try in warm-up and hopefully that is going to help us."

Paul Denning - Team Manager:

"The result today is so disappointing and doesn't reflect at all on the efforts and hard work of the team and riders. The trend of the bike simply not working well in colder and - in today's case - much windier conditions has continued and I have say that the bike didn't look at all pleasant to ride out there today. Suzuki has work to do to improve this situation and next week's test and the start of preparations for 2010 can't come soon enough!"

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Spies just misses second row start for Valencia MotoGP race
True to form, Sterilgarda Yamaha rider Ben Spies got straight down to business today making gradual improvements through the free practice and following qualifying session.

Having had time overnight to digest his first experience on the M1 in yesterday's free practice Spies put his new knowledge to productive use and started shaving his times.

The first heat in the morning saw him cut nearly a second off his times from yesterday, taking a lap best of 1'34.1 as he started to work more with the Bridgestone tires.

The afternoon's qualifying session saw more improvement again as he picked up the pace, hitting as high as 8th on the board with a provisional second row start until he was dropped to ninth at the closing seconds of the session. The times tumbled too, picking up where he left off in the morning, he took over six tenths of a second off the morning time to secure his top ten start in tomorrow's MotoGP race.

Ben Spies, Sterilgarda Yamaha Team - Position: 9th Time: 1'33.539

"It was another good day today, I'm still not where I feel comfortable and I'm definitely not at home yet but I think for such a short time on the bike I'm pretty happy to be in the top ten and not so far off some of the other guys on the Yamahas. In the end I need to try and get a good start, which I definitely haven't mastered yet, I've only had the chance to practice a couple so I think that could be where the downfall of the race will be for me. In the end I think it's an ok qualifying result for us, we just need to keep doing more laps on the bike. I can feel what the bike wants to do but I'm just not ready to take it there yet. Every time we get on it we go faster and that works for me. I'm still not close to what the tires can do either, I just need laps, laps and more laps!"

Massimo Meregalli, Sterilgarda Yamaha Team Manager
"As we thought, today went even better than our first outing yesterday. Ben is continuing to learn the bike and the tyres, unfortunately the wind here in Valencia today is making it much harder for him. Having said that, to start on the third row having spent just three hours riding this bike is pretty good. I think he achieved a great result today and we're looking forward to tomorrow."

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