Valencia MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo takes provisional 250 pole

Jorge Lorenzo has taken provisional pole position for the final 250 MotoGP in Valencia after topping the timesheets for the second time today.

The Aprilia rider was greeted back to his garage by applause from his team after the first qualifying practice for his home race which saw him record a best time of 1:35.476.

The session saw the battle for the top mainly contended between MotoGP bound Jorge Lorenzo and fellow Aprilia rider Alex de Angelis.

Lorenzo was first to go fastest with a 1:38.443 on his second lap of the session. But less than a minute later de Angelis was hot on the pace with a 1:38.303.

The pair diced with the lead with Lorenzo looking to take provisional pole with a lap of 1:36.228 with just 11 minutes to go after holding the top spot for quite a while.

But Honda man Yuki Takahashi had other ideas as he jumped up the board initially in to second spot before taking over the lead with a 1:35.927 with under three minutes remaining.

This gave Jorge Lorenzo scare and prompted him to put in his best lap on his final outing of the session in Valencia to take provisional pole with a 1:35.476.

• Check out next week’s MCN (November 7, 2007) for the biggest new motorcycle issues featuring 23 new bikes