Spain's Jorge Lorenzo, the Yamaha rider who leads the world championship chase, won his fifth consecutive pole position of the season in US MotoGP qualifying. Lorenzo, who began the weekend with a 47-point series lead, set the pace with a lap of 1min 20.978secs for last night's showdown. Ducati rider Casey Stoner was second in 1:21.169 with Honda's Andrea Dovizioso, of Italy, third in 1:21.617. Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, who won at Laguna Seca last year and is second in the drivers' championship, was fourth in 1:21.655 on his Honda. American Ben Spies, a Yamaha rider, qualified fifth with Italy's Valentino Rossi, the reigning world champion, completing the second row in sixth.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.