Despite fall, Stoner takes pole

Oct 27, 2012 |

Reuters

Phillip Island

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Australia's Casey Stoner shrugged off a lame ankle and an early crash in qualifying to take pole position and remain on track for a fairytale farewell at his home Grand Prix on Saturday.

The retiring MotoGP champion lost control of his Honda at Phillip Island's hairpin turn 20 minutes into the session, but hobbled away from the crash and rode a spare bike to a pace-setting lap of one minute 29.623 seconds.

Champion-in-waiting Jorge Lorenzo, who can seal his second MotoGP title should he snatch a podium position ahead of fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa on Sunday, was second fastest, more than half a second behind Stoner.

Pedrosa pushed hard to edge Lorenzo to sustain his late challenge in the title race, but was denied by rain in the final minutes and will line up third on the grid.

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