Daily Update MotoGP

Valentino Rossi will start Sunday's MotoGP race at Motegi from pole position after today's qualifying session was cancelled due to heavy rain.
A torrential downpour shortly after the MotoGP practice on Saturday caused the 125cc and MotoGP qualifying session to be delayed, and the decision to cancel the day's running was taken when the rained did not let up for the rest of the afternoon in Japan.

The grid was decided on the fastest times set by each rider during the weekend's practice sessions, all of which were set on Friday as Saturday's practice session was run in wet conditions.
Rossi earned his 42nd premier class pole position with his last flying lap of Friday's session when he beat Ducati's Casey Stoner's best effort by just 0.056s. Stoner will join Rossi's works Yamaha on the front row, along with the second factory Yamaha of Jorge Lorenzo.
Suzuki and Kawasaki were among those to benefit from the Friday times being counted, with Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi sandwiching Colin Edwards - who was fastest in today's wet practice session - on the second row. Marco Melandri's Hayate Kawasaki was eigth quickest on Friday, so will start in the middle of the third row.
Andrea Dovizioso's late effort on a poor Friday for Honda became more significant as it earned him seventh on the grid, while team-mate Dani Pedrosa will start down in 11th place.
Toni Elias will start ninth on his Gresini Honda, with James Toseland's Tech 3 Yamaha completing the top 10.

Pos Rider Team Time Gap
1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m48.545s
2. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m48.601s +0.056
3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m48.965s +0.420
4. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m49.382s +0.837
5. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m49.697s +1.152
6. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m49.980s +1.435
7. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m50.030s +1.485
8. Marco Melandri Hayate Kawasaki 1m50.123s +1.578
9. Toni Elias Gresini Honda 1m50.209s +1.664
10. James Toseland Tech 3 Yamaha 1m50.342s +1.797
11. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m50.391s +1.846
12. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m50.393s +1.848
13. Yuki Takahashi Scot Honda 1m50.404s +1.859
14. Sete Gibernau Hernando Ducati 1m50.538s +1.993
15. Alex de Angelis Gresini Honda 1m50.601s +2.056
16. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m50.669s +2.124
17. Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati 1m51.643s +3.098
18. Niccolo Canepa Pramac Ducati 1m51.929s +3.384
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Dani Pedrosa says the works Repsol Honda team made the wrong call on set-up in Friday's practice session at Motegi, and believes it will leave the team at a disadvantage on Sunday if the race is dry.
The Spaniard and team-mate Andrea Dovizioso were well off the pace throughout the 45-minute practice today. Dovizioso managed to salvage seventh place with a quicker lap on his final run, albeit 1.4 seconds slower than pace-setter Valentino Rossi, while Pedrosa finished 11th.
Rain is forecast for Saturday's practice and qualifying sessions, so Pedrosa fears today's could have been his only run in the dry before race day.

"The problem was that we made totally the wrong setting," Pedrosa said. "I couldn't make good laptimes, so it was a shame because tomorrow it will be raining.
"If the race is in dry conditions, I think today we make the wrong decision."
Pedrosa added that he is much more comfortable on his bike in Japan than he was in Qatar, as his recovery from a broken wrist continues.
"Today I felt a little bit better than in Qatar," he said. "Still in the beginning it's very difficult, but after some minutes I get a little bit more movement, so this is good. I have to sit better on the machine."
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Valentino Rossi set the quickest time in the opening practice session for this weekend's MotoGP round at Motegi, knocking Casey Stoner off the top spot with his last lap of the session.
It is the first time this season that a session has not been topped by Stoner's Ducati, although the Australian was fastest for the majority of the 45-minute practice.
Stoner had two excursions off track during the session, one at Turn 1 and one at the hairpin, but he escaped unscathed on both occasions and was the first rider to break into the 1m48s in the last quarter of an hour.
He returned to the pits with the best lap at the end of his final run, but reigning world champion Rossi found a chunk of time in the last sector of his last lap and posted a time half a tenth faster.

Jorge Lorenzo's factory Yamaha had a spell at the head of the timesheet, but was shuffled down to third as Rossi and Stoner trimmed their times at the end.
The works Suzukis ran well throughout the session, with Chris Vermeulen ending up fourth and Loris Capirossi sixth. They were separated by Colin Edwards' Tech 3 Yamaha in fifth.
Honda had a dismal session and rookie Japanese rider Yuki Takahasi spent most of it as the manufacturer's quickest representative on the fringes of the top 10, despite a trek through the gravel mid-way through.
The factory Hondas of Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa were well off the leaders' pace, although Dovizioso at least managed to salvage seventh place with his last lap of the session.
Marco Melandri was eighth quickest on the sole Kawasaki, ahead of Toni Elias's Gresini Honda and James Toseland's Tech 3 Yamaha.
The only faller was Mika Kallio, who had his first accident in MotoGP's top class when he was thrown from his Pramac Ducati in a high-side crash at Turn 3. The Finn landed awkwardly on top of his bike, but was uninjured and returned to the track later in the session.

Pos Rider Team Time Gap
1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m48.545s
2. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m48.601s +0.056
3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m48.965s +0.420
4. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m49.382s +0.837
5. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m49.697s +1.152
6. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m49.980s +1.435
7. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m50.030s +1.485
8. Marco Melandri Hayate Kawasaki 1m50.123s +1.578
9. Toni Elias Gresini Honda 1m50.209s +1.664
10. James Toseland Tech 3 Yamaha 1m50.342s +1.797
11. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m50.391s +1.846
12. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m50.393s +1.848
13. Yuki Takahashi Scot Honda 1m50.404s +1.859
14. Sete Gibernau Hernando Ducati 1m50.538s +1.993
15. Alex de Angelis Gresini Honda 1m50.601s +2.056
16. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m50.669s +2.124
17. Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati 1m51.643s +3.098
18. Niccolo Canepa Pramac Ducati 1m51.929s +3.384

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A victory in Qatar and confidence in the setup of the Ducati Desmosedici GP9 have made for a happy Casey Stoner heading to round two in Motegi, but the former MotoGP World Champion has reiterated that he is taking nothing for granted.
Stoner has set his sights on a stronger start to his 2009 season to that made in 2008, and thus far things appear to be going according to plan. Motegi represents something of an unknown for the new ‘big red bike’, however, and the Australian is assured but cautious in his approach to the Polini Grand Prix of Japan.

“We haven’t tested here in preseason whereas we had in Qatar, so we’ll see how we get on starting from zero, with less practice time available. I’m fairly confident, the set-up we found in testing has worked well at different kinds of circuits so we should have a decent base setting to work from at Motegi,” states Stoner. “In any case, we won’t take anything for granted - we’ll keep working hard together and stay focused.”
Early signs show that reigning titlist Valentino Rossi will be the key man for Stoner to beat in 2009, although there has been no ruling out of any rider yet by the Ducati Marlboro man.
“At this stage Valentino has been the hardest rival in testing and we know that Valentino will always be there, but people should always expect the unexpected,” he warns. “You don’t know what other riders are capable of, so we will see how the beginning of the season goes during the first few races and understand who is going to be competitive and who is not, and then focus on the toughest challenger.”
Stoner’s second place at last year’s Japanese round was his first podium in the premier class at Twin Ring Motegi.
ref[motogp.com]
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Valentino Rossi is confident that he will be close enough to challenge Casey Stoner in this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, despite the Ducati rider's runaway victory in Qatar.
Stoner dominated the whole Losail weekend, topping every session, and beating Rossi by half a second in qualifying and seven seconds in the race - although Rossi had lost ground early on with a slow start.

But although Rossi expects Stoner to remain tough to beat at Motegi, he believes that narrowing the gap is just a better of improving his Yamaha's set-up.
"In Qatar we had one or two small areas that could have been better, so we will be trying hard to improve our setting during the practice time so that we're able to run at the front on Sunday," said Rossi.
"I expect that Stoner will be strong again, so we just need to reduce the gap to him so that we can put up more of a fight."
Last year Rossi clinched the title with victory at Motegi when it was held in its previous September date, but his team manager Davide Brivio acknowledged that the team arrives in Japan on the back foot this season.
"This year we go there with different targets and the first one will be to improve our setting in order to allow us to remain consistent for the whole race, which wasn't possible in Qatar," said Brivio. "We will work hard in practice and hopefully we can give Valentino the tools to fight on Sunday."
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Nicky Hayden is confident that his massive Qatar accident will not affect his performance in this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.
The Ducati rider crashed heavily at the end of qualifying at Losail, and although he escaped without any broken bones, he was in significant discomfort.
But he said he had fully recovered since the Qatar event and will not suffer any after-effects at Motegi.
"Physically I'm okay - no doubt the race was tough because I was pretty beaten up but I've recovered well and I don't expect to have any problems in Japan," said Hayden.

"I'll probably go to the Clinica on Thursday to have the stitches removed and that will be the end of the matter."
The American is also confident that he will be more competitive in Japan, having made progress with his adjustment to the Ducati during the Losail race.
"My first GP with Ducati didn't exactly go as I'd hoped but we took some positives out of it," Hayden said.
"I lapped quicker in the second half of the race than I had done all weekend and above all I felt comfortable on the bike.
"Hopefully this will help us work out what it is exactly that I need to improve my feeling with the bike because being so far off the pace in practice wasn't cool."
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