Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner beat back the challenge of Marco Simoncelli and Jorge Lorenzo convincingly to claim pole position in the qualifying session for tomorrow’s British GP at Silverstone. Marco Simoncelli on the factory spec Gresini Honda held provisional pole for a while but ultimately could not match Stoner’s time. Defending World Champion Jorge Lorenzo finished qualifying in 3rd position on the works Yamaha while his works Yamaha team mate Ben Spies finished fourth. Fifth position on the grid went to Andrea Dovizioso on the other Repsol Honda while rookie Karel Abraham claimed a very surprising 6th position on the grid on his Cardion AB Ducati while Nicky Hayden on the factory Ducati qualified in 7th position, 8th position on the grid going to Colin Edwards on the Tech3 Yamaha even as he is just recovering from a broken collarbone and surgery post that only last week. This week it was the turn of his team mate and British rookie Cal Crutchlow to break a collarbone. The unfortunate Crutchlow seems to have broken the same clavicle on which he was operated on earlier in the year. He also suffered concussion in the qualifying crash today. Valentino Rossi had a miserable qualifying session and finished in a lowly 13th position on the factory Marlboro Ducati and his misery was matched by that of Loris Capirossi’s who finished last on the Pramac Ducati while his team mate Randy De Puniet finished in 10th place. Eleventh on the grid went to Hector Barbera on the Mapfre Ducati while Hiroshi Aoyama took twelfth on the grid. Tony Elias on the LCR Honda continued to have the horrors as he crashed once and only managed to finish 14th on the grid for tomorrow’s race.