Barros builds with Sepang pole

Alex Barros is emerging as the unlikely challenger to the dominance of Valentino Rossi in MotoGP after taking pole in Sepang today ahead of Sunday’s Malaysion Grand Prix.

Despite only having sat on the Honda RCV for less than two weeks, he now has a maiden pole to add to his four-stroke CV, just behind the win he took last weekend in Motegi.

Barros held off a strong challenge from Yamaha’s Max Biaggi with a time of 2’04.487 to Biaggi’s 2’02.536.

Daijiro Kato, who has yet to shine on the V5 RCV, took third ahead of Barros’ West Honda teammate Loris Capirossi on the two-stroke NSR.

Britain’s Jeremy McWilliams qualified in seventh on the Proton/KR ahead of Rossi, despite giving away as much as 18mph in top speeds to the more powerful four-strokes.

MotoGP

1)A Barros 2)M Biaggi 3)D Kato 4)L Capriossi 5)C Checa 6)T Ukawa 7)J McWilliams 8)V Rossi 9)G McCoy 10)J van de Goorbergh 11)N Abe 12)K Roberts 13)N Aoki 14)K Roberts 15)T Harada 16)S Gibernau 17)S Snakano 18)O Jacque 19)A Ryo 20)J Hopkins 21)R Laconi 22)JL Cardoso 23)A Pitt

250

1)F Nieto 2)M Melandri 3)T Elias 4)R Locatelli 5)F Battaini 6)R Rolfo 7) R de Puniet 8)S Porto 9)A Debon 10)C Stoner 11)D Checa 12)S Yuzy 13)E Alzamora 14)N Matsudo 15)H Aoki 16)D Heidolf…18)J Vincent…20)L Haslam

125

1)A Vincent 2)M Poggiali 3)D Pedrosa 4)S Jenkner 5)H Barbera 6)Y Ui 7)L Cecchinello 8)M Sabbatani 9)M Azuma 10)P Nieto 11)K Nohles 12)S Bianco 13)A Ballerini 14)M Kallio 15)M Giansanti 16)J Olive…31)C Davies