Barbera takes the baton with 250cc provisional pole

The dark clouds looming over the Brno circuit let loose with a torrent of rain before the first 250cc qualifying session in the Czech Republic, meaning that the quarter-litre category riders were treated to a wet run at the recently resurfaced track.

Still looking for a first victory in the 2008 season, Hector Barbera took provisional pole with a 2´16.210 lap onboard his Team Toth Aprilia machine. The Spaniard mimicked Friday´s MotoGP frontrunner Casey Stoner in setting his fastest time before running off-track when pushing for further improvement, and took his RSA into the gravel in the final moments of the session.

Nearly seven-tenths of a second down on Barbera´s time, Red Bull KTM´s Mika Kallio penciled his name on the front row. The Finn was the only rider to go round within a second of the provisional pole marker, with World Championship leader Marco Simoncelli a further four-tenths down in third at the track where he first tested the Metis Gilera RSA.

Alex Debon took fourth place to round off the front row, whilst Kallio´s teammate Hiroshi Aoyama headed a second line some way off matching the top quartet. Polaris World´s Mattia Pasini joined Aoyama, with Eugene Laverty impressing for seventh on the temporary grid. Julian Simon bounced back from a run-off to clock the eighth fastest time.

Lukas Pesek was the highest placing home rider, in ninth and ahead of late crasher Alvaro Bautista.