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who is the dude on pole?
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Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli snatched provisional pole for this
weekend's Czech MotoGP Grand Prix today after edging championship
leader Casey Stoner of Australia in a flying last practice lap.
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(snip)
I reckon he might be worth watching for the future.
He's already led a GP (but crashed out) back about Magny Cours (the wet/dry
one).
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Guintoli's the logical successor to Carlos Checa...
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Sheesh; that's a bit harsh!
He's only had about 8 MotoGPs; not 188!!
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He's only 25 so he's still got time. (Although French riders are very
fashionable at the mo.)
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What, theyhave better tailors cut their leathers?
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It's the way they wear their helmets at such a jaunty angle!
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Like Mr T says,"Get some n'ts!"
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Stoner dominated morning practice but it was the 25-year-old Yamaha
rider who ended up on top, pushing his yellow-painted Yamaha to the
limit in the final lap of the second practice round with a time of one
minute 58.362 seconds.
"I'm really happy. I did not expect to be as fast as we were,"
Guintoli said.
"Hopefully, we can get a bit of improvement in the bike set-up and
find a race tyre that will allow us to keep a similar pace, as
everybody will be fast tomorrow."
Stoner, 21, who has won six out of 11 races this year on his powerful
Ducati, settled for the second fastest time of 1:58.568, 0.3 seconds
ahead of American John Hopkins on a Suzuki.
The Australian leads the championship with 221 points.
"The track, the tyres, the bike, everything seems to be working pretty
well for me," Stoner said.
"(But) we need a little bit more traction at those points where we are
slipping and sliding.
"We also need to make a little improvement to the way the bike turns
on the exit of the corners because we're losing a bit there."
Seven-times world champion Valentino Rossi, who trails Stoner by 44
points in the overall standings, could only manage the sixth fastest
time on his new Yamaha.
The undulating 5.4-km Masaryk Ring has been kind to the flamboyant
Italian over the years.
Rossi has snatched three wins and three second place finishes out of
seven starts in the MotoGP class on the track, as well as wins in the
125cc and 250cc classes.
Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, 155 points behind Rossi this season, dropped
one place in the afternoon session, clocking the seventh fastest lap
of 1:59.266 on a Honda.
Defending champion Nicky Hayden, who interrupted Rossi's five-year
reign in the premier class last year, struggled again on Friday,
finishing 0.200 of a second behind Pedrosa.
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