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Written by:
SPEED Staff
SPEEDtv.com
SPEEDtv.com
05/02/2008 - 12:06 PM
Shanghai, China
250cc
Alvaro Bautista took provisional pole in an action-packed first 250cc qualifying session, as one of three riders in contention for the top spot in the final seconds.
The Mapfre Aspar rider had to work hard to confirm the position, with himself, quarter-litre category leader Mika Kallio and fellow Spaniard Hector Barbera all on pole pace on their final lap. Kallio occupied the place for just the briefest of moments, before Bautista bit back with a 2´05.035 hot lap as the session drew to a close.
Kallio was just under four tenths of a second slower than his title rival, with Barbera a further tenth behind onboard his Team Toth Aprilia machine. The latter was involved in a near-collision with Emmi-Caffe Latte´s Thomas Luthi, forcing the Swiss rider to sit up. Luthi finished the session in fourth.
Polaris World rider Mattia Pasini heads the provisional second row, ahead of Julian Simon, Hector Faubel and Marco Simoncelli.
Simoncelli was included on the list of crashers in the qualifying session, as were Doni Tata Pradita and Russel Gomez, who had a late coming together between their respective Yamaha Pertamina Indonesia and Blusens Aprilia bikes.
125cc
Stefan Bradl is on provisional pole for the 125cc Pramac Grand Prix of China, having recorded a late, late hot lap of 2´13.218 in the opening qualifying session in Shanghai.
The German, riding for Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing in 2008, has never been on pole in the World Championship, but is now in prime position to break his duck. He was the quickest participant in a session in which the top thirteen all rode round within the same second.
Bradley Smith looked to have taken the provisional pole spot with his own late surge, but missed out by just six hundredths of a second. Smith had earlier experienced a lowside crash on his Polaris World Aprilia. The Briton was not adversely affected by the incident.
The morning practice session´s fastest rider Nico Terol maintained his good form, pencilled in for the front row alongside the top two and Jack&Jones WRB team-mate Simone Corsi. The latter is the current series leader, on a two-race run of consecutive victories.
Reigning World Champion Gabor Talmacsi ran off track at the end of the session, and currently lies in fifth, ahead of Bancaja Aspar colleague Sergio Gadea, Onde 200 KTM´s Raffaele de Rosa and Ajo Motorsport rider Mike di Meglio.
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