Assen, June 27: World champion Valentino Rossi was fastest in the first qualifying session for Saturday's Dutch motorcycle Grand Prix. Rossi posted a time of two minutes, 0.496 seconds on his final lap in sunny conditions to set provisional pole position on Thursday (June 26) for Saturday's Dutch MotoGP Grand Prix. The time was a pole record for the Assen circuit and 0.181 seconds quicker than his compatriot and Honda team mate Max Biaggi. Loris Capirossi, winner of the last race in Spain, was third fastest on his Ducati, with Alex Barros fourth on a Yamaha and a much improved American Colin Edwards fifth on his Aprilia. The reigning World Superbike champion was six places ahead of his old sparring partner Troy Bayliss who was down in eleventh. Marco Melandri, recovering from broken bones after his crash at the season opener in Japan, crashed again without serious injury. Nobuatsu Aoki, racing the V5 prototype Proton, found it pouring out flames down the straight. He stopped and waved the marshals to come and put the flames out, then ill-advisedly kicked the bike whereupon it burst into flames and he had to run away.


Fonsi Nieto kept ahead of fellow Spaniard Toni Elias to head the 250cc category, while Alex de Angelis of San Marino pushed Australia's Casey Stoner from provisional pole in the 125cc times.


Saturday's race is one of the biggest in the calendar with an estimated ten million fans visiting the circuit, with many of them camping out for the entire weekend of races.


Times from Thursday's opening practice session for Saturday's Dutch motorcycling Grand Prix: MotoGP 1. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Honda 2 minutes 00.496 seconds 2. Max Biaggi (Italy) Honda 2:00.677 3. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Ducati 2:00.698 4. Alex Barros (Brazil) Yamaha 2:01.040 5. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Aprilia 2:01.608 6. Carlos Checa (Spain) Yamaha 2:01.812 7. Olivier Jacque (France) Yamaha 2:01.872 8. Tohru Ukawa (Japan) Honda 2:01.968 9. Marco Melandri (Italy) Yamaha 2:01.984 10. Sete Gibernau (Spain) Honda 2:02.019 11. Troy Bayliss (Australia) Ducati 2:02.109 12. Shinya Nakano (Japan) Yamaha 2:02.318 13. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Honda 2:02.346 14. Noriyuki Haga (Japan) Aprilia 2:02.815 15. Makoto Tamada (Japan) Honda 2:02.849 16. Alex Hofmann (Germany) Kawasaki 2:03.308 17. Yukio Kagayama (Japan) Suzuki 2:03.349 18. John Hopkins (U.S.) Suzuki 2:03.363 19. Andrew Pitt (Australia) Kawasaki 2:04.603 20. Jeremy McWilliams (Britain) Proton 2:04.928 21. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Japan) Honda 2:06.049 22. Garry McCoy (Australia) Kawasaki 2:06.330 23. Nobuatsu Aoki (Japan) Proton 2:07.169


Leading 250cc times 1. Fonsi Nieto (Spain) Aprilia 2:04.866 2. Toni Elias (Spain) Aprilia 2:05.049 3. Manuel Poggiali (San Marino) Aprilia 2:05.106 4. Roberto Rolfo (Italy) Honda 2:05.787 5. Randy De Puniet (France) Aprilia 2:05.922 6. Franco Battaini (Italy) Aprilia 2:06.167 7. Sebastian Porto (Argentina) Honda 2:06.309 8. Anthony West (Australia) Aprilia 2:06.594 9. Sylvain Guintoli (France) Aprilia 2:06.671 10. Erwan Nigon (France) Aprilia 2:07.089


Leading 125cc times 1. Alex De Angelis (San Marino) Aprilia 2:11.398 2. Casey Stoner (Australia) Aprilia 2:11.632 3. Youichi Ui (Japan) Aprilia 2:11.700 4. Hector Barbera (Spain) Aprilia 2:11.741 5. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Derbi 2:11.903 6. Mika Kallio (Finland) Honda 2:11.957 7. Steve Jenkner (Germany) Aprilia 2:12.134 8. Gino Borsoi (Italy) Aprilia 2:12.203 9. Marco Simoncelli (Italy) Aprilia 2:12.267 10. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda 2:12.398


Bureau Report