Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner has bagged MotoGP pole position at Indianapolis this afternoon and hold a half-second advantage over second-placed man Ben Spies while an early crash saw Marlboro Ducati's Valentino Rossi end up in 14th after he was forced to qualify his second bike.
Rossi dropped his number one GP11.1 when he lost the front going through turn two and his crew just couldn't manage to get it rebuilt in time to get any meaningful laps in. The Doctor's last lap hauled him into 14th from 16th but he is more than two seconds off the pace.
Spies, meanwhile, swapped laps with Stoner early on and was frequently faster in the first two splits but it is the power of the Honda which saw the Australian open an advantage, especially down the start/finish straight where Stoner is hitting 200mph.
The second Factory Yamaha of Jorge Lorenzo completes the front row but the Spaniard is not looking comfortable. He managed to just stay ahead of compatriot Dani Pedrosa, who is a second off his Repsol Honda team-mate's pace while the third Repsol bike of Andrea Dovizioso is fifth.
Monster Yamaha's Colin Edwards has continued his pace and rounds out the second row just a tenth slower than the works Hondas. Marco Simoncelli, on the other HRC RC212V, is seventh with Nicky Hayden banging in a fast last lap to take eighth. Alvaro Bautista and Hector Barbera round out the top ten while Cal Crutchlow is 11th.
