Gibernau on pole

Sete Gibernau has taken pole position for the Czech GP in a rain drenched qualifying session at Brno.

Carlos Checa looked set to hold on to pole position with the time that he set during a dry spell in the first qualifying session on Friday, but Gibernau led five others riders past Checa’s time despite the dreadfull conditions.

Checa could not improve on his time as he crashed out of the morning practice session.

Alex Barros followed Gibernau to second place with Valentino Rossi manageing to get over his problems in the earlier sessions to finish off the front row in third place.

Troy Bayliss got one of his best starting positions this year in fourth place, with Colin Edwards and Carlos Checa finishing the second row of the grid.

Ruben Xaus took advantage of the wet conditions to qualify in 10th place on the D’Antin Ducati with team-mate Niel Hodgson in 12th.

John Hopkins managed to top the free practice session in the morning during a brief dry spell but when the rain came back for qualifying he could only push the Suzuki up to 21st on the grid.

Shane Byrne wont be riding his Aprilia in the race on Sunday after a big crash in the morning practice session left him with a mild concussion and a dislocated wrist.

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S.GIBERNAU

A.BARROS

V.ROSSI

T.BAYLISS

C.EDWARDS

C.CHECA

N.HAYDEN

M.BIAGGI

L.CAPIROSSI

R.XAUS

M.MELANDRI

N.HODGSON

N.ABE

Ku.ROBERTS

J.McWILLIAMS

Ke.ROBERTS

M.TAMADA

M.FABRIZIO

A.PITT

J.HOPKINS

N.AOKI

G.LAVILLA

J.ELLISON

S.NAKANO

A.HOFMANN