Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner put in a late charge to marmalise the MotoGP field in qualifying at Valencia this afternoon, setting pole position by more than a second from team-mate Dani Pedrosa with Ben Spies also sticking in a fast final few minutes to complete the front row for Yamaha.
Stoner went under his own lap record with a 1'31.861 on his 18th lap and Pedrosa had no answer to the Aussie's pace. In fact, Stoner had two laps faster than the Spaniard while Spies on just pushed Pramac Ducati's Randy De Puniet off the front row by less than a tenth.
The Frenchman has been on fire all weekend in both wet, drying and dry conditions as his qualifying performance will make prospective employers like Lucio Checcincello consider their 2012 options a bit more deeply.
Rizla Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista also backed up his wet-weather form with a ride to fifth place which moved Marlboro Ducati's Valentino Rossi to the outside of row two. The Italian had been behind team-mate Nicky Hayden until his final run.
Hayden, meanwhile, had to settle for seventh with Andrea Dovizioso in eighth. The Italian stepped off his Repsol Honda at the end of the session but stayed ahead of Hector Barbera, whose Mapfre Ducati expired right at the start of the session.
Karel Abraham put one over on his Rookie of the Year challenger cal Crutchlow by finishing a place ahead of the Monster Yamaha man in tenth but the time difference between the two is less than a tenth of a second.
