Brno MotoGP: Casey Stoner claims sixth successive pole

Casey Stoner stormed to his sixth straight pole position as he shrugged off the affects of illness at a rain-lashed Brno today.

The Aussie’s best time of 2.11.657 comfortably beat Valentino Rossi by 1.189s in torrential rain as he goes in search of a second successive victory in the Czech Republic.

Stoner, who trails Yamaha rival Rossi by 25-points going into tomorrow’s 22-lap clash, said: “It is a fantastic run for us with another pole position because the conditions were really difficult.

“The track in the dry was quite slippery yesterday and very hard on front tyres so we didn’t know want to expect in the wet. When there wasn’t too much water the track wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately halfway through the session when it started to rain a  bit heavier the track became very, very difficult and there were a few patches that were catching a lot of riders out.

“We went out at the start and tried to basically put a good few laps together because we still didn’t really know what weather was going to do. It looked like it might clear up but it actually did the opposite.

“I still wasn’t totally happy with the set-up so I came in to make some changes but when we went back out there was two or three inches of standing water in some places and the bike was aquaplaning everywhere. We knew that as long as the rain kept coming as it did then nobody was going to be able to go much quicker because the track conditions were so difficult.”

Stoner though was at least happy to have seen a big improvement in his physical conditions since yesterday when he topped the timesheets, despite illness.
The 22-year-old added: “I must have picked up a bug before I left home from Australia. I didn’t think it was too bad but yesterday I was getting tired putting my glove on and I thought ‘wow this is going to be a hard day.’

“I was running out of energy very quickly when I was going out and I had to come in and sit down for a few minutes each time. This morning I woke up and felt completely different. My head cold feels worse but in general my fitness and engery feels a lot better. I’m not sure what was going on yesterday but hopefully for tomorrow it is gone.”