By blue2bikes
March 26 2007

Not surprisingly, it was Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi who took the top two spots during qualifying for the Spanish round of MotoGP, at Jérez. Dani got the top spot, in a change of position from when they were last there, and Valentino pipped Dani for the BMW sportscar earlier in the year. The top ten riders were separated by a mere 0.325 seconds, and with Carlos Checa in great form. He had surprised everyone in Friday’s session, and was to repeat his performance and take the third spot.

Colin Edwards once again put in a good performance, and hopefully he will stay with the leaders at the off and stay in contention this time around. Casey Stoner will be wanting to make up more points, and will be full of confidence knowing that he can beat Valentino, as will Dani. Carlos Checa is a determined rider, and has the ability to cause an upset, as did Casey did last time out.

Let’s not forget John Hopkins, who is undoubtedly a rider to watch out for. Kenny Roberts will want to impress but with a top ten - looking as good as this I feel he will have to ride the wheels off his machine to stay with those ahead of him.

Who would I put my money on? Well, it would have to be Valentino, with Dani in second position. Nothing is a surety at this level, though, and any one of the top ten riders are more than capable of taking a win.

Dani has the backing of the crowds behind him, which will undoubtedly spur him on. A battle of wills, as a battle aboard machine, will ensure ultimate and exciting racing when the lights turn green - a race not to be missed, and I am sure that the crowds will be just as loud as the bikes.......

Qualifying times:
1 Dani Pedrosa, 1min 39.402 secs
2 Valentino Rossi, 1m 39.453s
3 Carlos Checa, 1m 39.460s
4 Colin Edwards, 1m 39.486s
5 Casey Stoner, 1m 39.524s
6 John Hopkins, 1m 39.625s
7 Shin’ya Nakano, 1m 39.632s
8 Toní Elías, 1m 39.660s
9 Marco Melandri, 1m 39.722s
10 Kenny Roberts, 1m 39.727s
11 Nicky Hayden, 1m 39.834s
12 Randy de Puniet, 1m 39.883s
13 Alex Barros, 1m 40.196s
14 Chris Vermeulen, 1m 40.328s
15 Loris Capirossi, 1m 40.391s
16 Olivier Jacque, 1m 40.405s
17 Makoto Tamada, 1m 40.617s
18 Alex Hofmann, 1m 40.710s
19 Kousuke Akiyoshi, 1m 41.202s
20 Sylvain Guintoli, 1m 41.219s