Marlboro Ducati's Casey Stoner has swum his way to pole for tomorrow's Brno MotoGP round, ending the session more than a second faster than Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi and taking his sixth pole in row.
In what can only be decribed as atrocious conditions, the wily Aussie set his pole time after just four laps and 10 minutes of the session gone. Then the heavens opened and the rest of the field were forced to try and beat Stoner on a track that just got more and more wet.
Kawasaki's John Hopkins was third fastest, some 1.3s behind Stoner and he completes the front row. Hopper said: "We went out early and set the lap but then the standing water got really bad so we sat it out untll right at the end."
To put the standing water into perspective, Rossi went back out with five minutes of the session left, with two brand new tyres on and could only lap 12s slower than Stoner's fastest time.
Rainmaster Anthony West revelled in the conditions and was the only man to significantly increase his grid position at the session end. He jumped from mid-teens to sixth in the last minute. Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli also got quicker as the weather worsened.
Britain's James Tosleland crashed with 25 minutes of the session left to run. He locked his front wheel and slipped off the side of the bike about 100 metres before he was meant to turn in. Toseland got up and went back out on his second bike but it was clear he had no rear grip from his Michelins for the entire session.
It isn't yet clear whether Toseland or Jorge Lorenzo have qualified as they were both outside of the 107% limit, however it is down to race control's discretion.
Times are here