Stefan Bradl took full advantage of a mistake by pole favorite Marc Marquez to claim top honors during qualifying for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Sunday's Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix will air LIVE on SPEED starting at 4:30pm ET. #MotoGPonSPEED Entering the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the question was how quickly rookie MotoGP title leader Marc Marquez could learn and adapt to the notoriously tricky little race circuit. Following a day-and-a-half of brilliance, entering qualifying the question was if anyone could possibly beat Marquez for pole. The surprising answer to that question was 'yes' and it was delivered by LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl, who edged the Spaniard by 0.017 seconds to claim his first-career MotoGP pole position. It might be more accurate to same of combination of Bradl and Marquez himself prevented the super rookie from winning pole this afternoon. The Repsol Honda ace controlled the top of the charts throughout the opening stages of Q2, but as he has all weekend, Marquez flirted on the edge of disaster to put himself there. His uncanny balance had allowed him to save multiple near crashes in the FP sessions and then early in Q2 as well, when he ran in the dirt momentarily on the outside of the Corkscrew. However, he finally paid the price with four minutes remaining in Q2, the front washing out in Turn 6 as he attempted to lower his session-leading time. With Marquez unable to get back on track in time to resume his qualifying session, '11 Moto2 champ Bradl took full advantage. The German slashed just under Marquez's time to bump the 20-year-old down to second on Sunday's grid. While an unexpected result, Bradl has consistently ranked among the top of the charts this weekend. He said, "It's really nice to be on pole, for sure. It was one of the best laps I've done ever. I put a lot of effort into this qualifying because I knew it was going to be tough because all of these guys can do another step in qualifying. I had a clear track with my second tire and I just went for it. I was really happy -- especially my last section I think I was really, really fast. "It's really nice to be here and I will enjoy it for sure. It'll be a little bit different for tomorrow but we know we have the pace and we will keep going." GO&FUN Honda Gresini's Alvaro Bautista completed the surprise front row, claiming his first top-three qualifying performance of the year. While Row 1 was locked down by Hondas, Row 2 is an all Yamaha affair. Factory Yamaha ace Valentino Rossi dropped Monster Yamaha Tech3's Cal Crutchlow from fourth to fifth by 0.002 seconds. Crutchlow got a late start in the session after crashing in FP4 shortly before the start of qualifying. Defending World Champion Jorge Lorenzo earned a spot on the second row for a race he was expected to miss just a few days ago. Rossi expects Lorenzo to be fully competitive in Sunday's Grand Prix as the brave Spanish ace continues to prove his toughness on the heels of two straight weekends injuring his left collarbone. Fellow injured title hopeful Dani Pedrosa was one spot behind Lorenzo. Pedrosa has appeared to be favoring his shoulder more than Lorenzo throughout the weekend despite what was thought to be a less severe injury. The Spaniard has sat out two free sessions this weekend and was visibly in pain during qualifying. Positions 8-11 were decided by just 0.073 seconds while Randy de Puniet will start from 12th despite not posting a time in Q2 (he crashed early in the session).Row 1 1. Stefan Bradl (Honda) 1:21.176 2. Marc Marquez (Honda) 1:21.193 3. Alvaro Bautista (Honda) 1:21.373Row 2 4. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1:21.418 5. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) 1:21.420 6. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1:21.453Row 3 7. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1:21.728 8. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 1:22.026 9. Bradley Smith (Yamaha) 1:22.075Row 4 10. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 1:22.090 11. Aleix Espargaro (ART) 1:22.099 12. Randy de Puniet (ART) 1:22.694 (From Q1)Row 5 13. Hector Barbera (FTR) 14. Alex de Angelis (Ducati) 15. Colin Edwards (FTR Kawasaki)Row 6 16. Danilo Petrucci (Ioda-Suter) 17. Claudio Corti (FTR Kawasaki) 18. Yonny Hernandez (ART)Row 7 19. Karel Abraham (ART) 20. Michael Laverty (PBM) 21. Hiroshi Aoyama (FTR)Row 8 22. Bryan Staring (FTR Honda) 23. Lukas Pesek (Ioda-Suter)
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