Valentino Rossi blew away the opposition with a last-gasp effort to claim pole position for tomorrow's German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring. The FIM MotoGP world championship leader mastered the tricky wet conditions at the German circuit to take top spot by over six tenths of a second from his Fiat Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo. The Spaniard Lorenzo looked set to claim pole as he led the way as the 60-minute session expired but Rossi delivered in spectacular style on his final lap, posting a time of one minute 32.520 seconds to outpace third-placed man Casey Stoner by 1.2 secs. Stoner, who this week had the mystery illness which has plagued him at recent races diagnosed as anaemia and gastritis, qualified just ahead of Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden but revealed he was never in with a chance of keeping on the pace of the imperious Yamahas. "I'm pretty happy to be upright to be honest," the Australian told the BBC. "These guys (Rossi and Lorenzo) seem to be on rails, there were no mistakes for them but my bike was all over the shop. "I said 'I want all my limbs intact' ? front row is plenty for us, but these two guys' bikes don't seem to be moving an inch." Alex de Angelis and LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet completed the second row alongside Hayden, who suffered a nasty highside in the dying minutes of the session which saw him collide with Pramac Ducati's Niccolo Canepa. Canepa required a stretcher to be taken away from the gravel trap on the outside of Turn Seven following the incident. De Puniet, Marco Melandri (Hayate Kawasaki), Loris Capirossi (Suzuki), and Gresini Honda teammates Toni Elias and De Angelis also suffered crashes as the riders struggled in the slippery conditions. Colin Edwards tiptoed through the carnage to claim seventh for Tech 3 Yamaha while Dani Pedrosa, the winner in the United States last time out, could manage only eighth, ahead of Capirossi. Mika Kallio (Pramac Ducati) rounded out the top 10 while Britain's James Toseland will start 14th on the second Tech 3 Yamaha.
* PA Sport
