Donnington, July 13: Italian Max Biaggi grabbed pole position for Sunday's British Grand Prix with a scorching lap in the closing seconds of Saturday's second qualifying session. The Italian clocked one minute 30.740 on his Honda on Saturday (July 12) to edge Spanish championship contender Sete Gibernau, also on a Honda, by 0.122 seconds after a session in which the top 11 riders were separated by less than a second. World champion Valentino Rossi, who grabbed provisional pole at Donington Park on his Honda on Friday and led for much of Saturday, was beaten by the pace of the late laps and ended up fortunate to make the front row in fourth, just behind his compatriot Marco Melandri on a Yamaha. Biaggi's time was a record for qualifying at Donington, a mark set by Rossi on Friday, beaten by the Italian early on Saturday and then briefly held by Gibernau. Gibernau, who has matched Rossi with three race wins this year but trails the Italian by 38 points in the title race, was pleased to qualify so well on the sun-baked track.


Ducati duo Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi were forced off the front row by the flurry of fast laps and will line up sixth and seventh.


Rossi is looking for a victory at Donington for a fifthyear in a row -- one in 250cc, two in 500cc and last year in the new MotoGP category -- and with five minutes to go on Saturday it looked like being his day again.


The four-times world champion began with a blistering lap after just six minutes of the session which went unchallenged for nearly 50 minutes. But with time running out, first Gibernau, then Biaggi and finally Melandri passed his time and Rossi was unable to respond.


Spain's Fonsi Nieto will be on pole for the 250cc race after no one could improve on his time from Friday's session. Manuel Poggiali of San Marino, who survived a nasty fall, was second fastest. Toni Elias was third on his Aprilia with Naoki Matsudo fourth on his Yamaha.


Earlier, Italian Stefano Perugini edged Spanish championship leader Daniel Pedrosa to pole for the 125cc race. Andrea Dovizioso was third on his Honda.


Grid positions for Sunday's MotoGP race at the British motorcycling grand prix after final qualifying on Saturday: 1. Max Biaggi (Italy) Honda one minute and 30.740 seconds 2. Sete Gibernau (Spain) Honda 1:30.862 3. Marco Melandri (Italy) Yamaha 1:30.926 4. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Honda 1:30.938 5. Carlos Checa (Spain) Yamaha 1:31.035 6. Troy Bayliss (Australia) Ducati 1:31.036 7. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Ducati 1:31.067 8. Olivier Jacque (France) Yamaha 1:31.241 9. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Aprilia 1:31.354 10. Tohru Ukawa (Japan) Honda 1:31.385 250cc



1. Fonsi Nieto (Spain) Aprilia one hour and 33.859 seconds 2. Manuel Poggiali (San Marino) Aprilia 1:34.215 3. Toni Elias (Spain) Aprilia 1:34.386 4. Naoki Matsudo (Japan) Yamaha 1:34.398 5. Randy De Puniet (France) Aprilia 1:34.572 6. Franco Battaini (Italy) Aprilia 1:34.743 7. Roberto Rolfo (Italy) Honda 1:34.781 8. Sebastian Porto (Argentina) Honda 1:34.856 9. Sylvain Guintoli (France) Aprilia 1:34.995 10. Anthony West (Australia) Aprilia 1:35.182


125cc 1. Stefano Perugini (Italy) Aprilia 1 minute 37.984 seconds 2. Daniel Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 1:38.078 3. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda 1:38.143 4. Simone Corsi (Italy) Honda 1:38.370 5. Mika Kallio (Finland) Honda 1:38.386 6. Hector Barbera (Spain) Aprilia 1:38.417 7. Steve Jenkner (Germany) Aprilia 1:38.609 8. Lucio Cecchinello (Italy) Aprilia 1:38.652 9. Casey Stoner (Australia) Aprilia 1:38.680 10. Alex de Angelis (San Marino) Aprilia 1:38.752


Bureau Report