Valentino Rossi was left cursing a crucial late mistake that the Italian believes robbed him of the chance to challenge for only his second pole position of the season. The reigning world champion was looking to elevate himself up from fifth on the grid in the closing stages when he lost the front-end of his Fiat Yamaha at the penultimate corner. Luckily the crash was on a left hand corner and didn’t aggravate Rossi’s recovering broken right leg that is still well short of 100% fitness.

The 31-year-old finished fifth with a best time of 1.57.059 and said: “Apart from the mistake it was a positive day for me because I am fast and competitive, especially this afternoon because this morning it was dangerous conditions. This afternoon I pushed more and I stayed most of the session in the top three. I felt good with the bike and we improved a lot the setting and also I feel good with my body. I have some pain but I am able to ride quite well. With the second soft tire I was 0.2s faster than my best lap, so it was already a front-row time. And I think on the second lap it was possible to go two or three tenths faster, so without the mistake I could battle for the front row with no problem. But I made the mistake and now I have to start from the second row and that will be more difficult for me, especially in my condition. The important thing is that the setting is quite good and I think I will be competitive for the race. I was very upset because we worked well during the practice and I had the potential maybe also to fight for the pole position.”

The nine-time world champion though was relieved to have crashed in such circumstances. It was his first tumble since the spectacular high-side in early June at Mugello that left him with a compound fracture of his right tibia. But he said he was happy to have escaped any further damage and added: “I am very happy because if you have to crash then this is the best way. You aren’t scared and I just slid a little bit. I crashed in a good part on the left side so it was no problem and I am happy for this.”

Explaining what caused the crash that left him over half-a-second off Dani Pedrosa’s pole position time, Rossi said: “I tried to make the corner with a bit more speed, but compared to the best lap it was only 0.7ks faster but maybe it is too much. I think it was too much lean angle.”

Rossi’s big money switch to Ducati will be confirmed after tomorrow’s 22-lap race.

Casey Stoner said his failure to overcome a rear grip issue cost him the chance to claim a front-row start for tomorrow’s Czech Republic MotoGP clash at the Brno circuit. The Aussie logged the fourth best time with his 1.56.868 just 0.003s away from bumping Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo off the front row. The 2007 world champion was plagued by a return of an old rear pumping issue with his factory Ducati GP10.

“We've been trying to fix that,” said Stoner. “It looked like the Ducati of two years ago but now we have a carbon chassis, so whatever it does it is the old Ducati ten fold. It is that much more aggressive when it moves and pumps hard and it has been shunting me all over the place. We fix that problem a little bit we then have problems with the front and we are just trying to get a better balance. I was happier with my last exit but I still didn't have quite enough grip in the rear and the new tires covered a lot of problems. The problem is on the whole track. With our bike it is never one part that is different to another and we usually find the same problem through the lap. We are getting the same reaction at every corner."

Stoner said he wasn’t fussed to have missed the front row of the grid for the first time since the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in late June. And he said he expected to be involved in the group fighting for the podium in tomorrow’s 22-lap clash, which starts the second half of the 2010 MotoGP world championship.

Stoner, who will switch to Repsol Honda next season, said: “I'm going to try and join the group but I don't know if it will be a big group. We'll see how the confidence of Jorge (Lorenzo) and Valentino (Rossi) is for tomorrow because they both crashed. Jorge hasn't had a crash in a long time. Dani (Pedrosa) is looking good this weekend, he's been strong in every session to the point where it is not worrying but you can see he feels good and the bike is working well every session. It's not like he is slowly progressing every session. It is going to be an interesting race but I just have to worry about myself and see if I can run at the front. The Yamahas also seem to be working extremely well here and it's easy to say I can follow them.”

Jorge Lorenzo admitted he was lucky on two counts as his bid for a sixth successive pole position ended in a cloud of dust and gravel at Brno today. The Fiat Yamaha rider was bidding to move up from third position in the final three minutes when he crashed out. He lost the front and could only watch as his YZR-M1 flew through the gravel trap and came to a halt lying on top of a trackside tire wall. His best time of 1.56.865 maintained his 100% record of starting on the front in all ten races in 2010 but he admitted he was fortunate to walk away unscathed from the late spill.

He was also lucky to learn that his inline four-cylinder engine had suffered no serious damage. If the Spaniard had lost an engine through crash damage, it would have placed serious doubt on whether he could have completed the season without needing to use more than his allocation of six engines.

The 23-year-old, who starts tomorrow’s 22-lap race with a comfortable 72-point advantage over fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, said: “It was a very hard session and maybe the worst of the year both technically and also for my riding style. I didn’t feel comfortable for any lap during the practice. We hope the engine is okay for tomorrow. I think it is going to be fine. To improve the setting of the bike and improve my riding is what I need to be faster tomorrow. The positive thing is the crash didn’t happen in the race and I didn’t hurt myself. For tomorrow the only goal is to be a little bit faster to make a good race.”

Repsol Honda Pedrosa claimed his first pole position since the Mugello round in early June and he said: “It was a great qualifying session and to be back on pole position is fantastic after such a long time - the last time was in Italy at the beginning of June. We've done a very good job so far this weekend and we have established a good pace for the race, but we still need to keep a clear mind, stay focused and try to be ready for any conditions because the weather forecast for tomorrow is very uncertain. Anyway, the team did a very good job today and I hope if it's dry we can have a strong race and go for the victory. I won't really be approaching the race tomorrow with a particular strategy. In this championship you have to find your own limit because there are a lot of riders going fast and you can only concentrate on your own performance and do the best you can. So I really hope to do a great job tomorrow and at least to be back on the podium.”

Ben Spies was just 40 seconds away from claiming a stunning maiden pole position in MotoGP after a dramatic end to qualifying at the Brno circuit today. A best lap of 1.56.846 clocked in the final five minutes looked to have given the Texan his first ever pole position as Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi both crashed out trying to better his benchmark. But just when Spies thought he secured the best time, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa produced a clinical late attack and an impressive 1.56.508 secured the Repsol Honda rider top spot by 0.338s.

Reigning World Superbike champion Spies was still delighted to have clinched his first ever premier class front row start, the 26-year-old sandwiched in between Pedrosa and Lorenzo on the grid for the 22-lap race. Spies said: “My goal was to be on the second row and I didn't think the front row was possible, let alone a pole position. From the start of the weekend every change we have made to the bike has been better and that doesn't usually happen. I had a decent pace so I was confident I could have a good qualifying. When we put the second soft tire in I got into first position and I thought people would go faster. I did a really good time at the end but when I saw I was still up there I thought, ‘I could do this.’ With one minute to go I saw Dani coming and I moved over for him but I thought ‘man, I could easily just pull in front of him and get pole’. That was his fast lap but I'm not like that. He did a good job and I didn't have those last three tenths anyway and the time I set was a good time for me. I'm happy and it would have been nice to have a pole position but at this point just being in the middle of the front row is way good enough for the race. I gave it everything I had and it went better than I thought it was going to. I definitely exceeded my expectations for the session and I think the race will be pretty good for us”

Spies said the crucial factor in his bid to claim a second MotoGP podium to add to his Silverstone third place would be his pace in the first few laps. Spies has admitted taking too long to find his speed in the early laps and he added: “I'll try and get a good start and if I can latch onto those guys for the first six or seven laps I can put together a good race. I’ve struggled in the first few laps in some races but here I've been able to get into a fast rhythm pretty quick, so I'm looking forward to it. This is just qualifying but it gives you confidence for the race. I’ve had a podium in my first full season and a front row is another box ticked and that’s very satisfying for me.”

Nicky Hayden is anticipating a grueling Czech Republic MotoGP clash tomorrow after he chipped a bone in his left wrist during a heavy crash in qualifying. The 2006 world champion will start the 22-lap race from eighth on the grid having clocked a best time of 1.57.635. But he faces a tough battle to contend for the top six tomorrow after a big crash at Turn 3 during this afternoon’s decisive qualifying session at the Brno circuit. Hayden lost the front of his factory GP10 and although he looked to suffer only an innocuous slide on his back into the gravel trap, he revealed later he’d chipped the radius bone in his left wrist.

The American said: “We started out well and on my first exit on a hard tire I was able to improve my lap time quite a lot. We got into the 1.57s quite quickly and I thought we were in good shape to have a shot at a good grid position. Unfortunately my first flying lap on the softer tire ended in Turn 3 – I just lost the front quite early on entry, I don't know why. I know people always say 'I did nothing different!' but honestly, even looking at the data, the brake pressure and speed was the same as my previous runs. We need to have a look at that and understand it tonight. Luckily it wasn't too heavy and everything on my body is fine other than my left hand. It must have got caught under the bike because it's very sore and even though we tried to go back out I couldn't change direction. We've had it checked out by X-ray which showed we took a chunk off the tip of the radius, which isn't good, but my scaphoid is okay and that's the main thing because I have a screw in there and it's not damaged. Just walking around the paddock it's not too painful but we'll have to wait and see how it goes over 22 laps on the bike tomorrow.”