Rossi delighted with pole for home race

Having taken his sixth pole of 2009 on Saturday at Misano a delighted Valentino Rossi thanked his Fiat Yamaha crew for their nimble work which allowed him to make late dash to secure top spot on the grid.

A final effort on a new tyre paid off for the Italian who was under pressure again from his Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa and his own team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who also ended up on the front row.

Afterwards an excited Rossi commented, “I am very happy to get the pole position here in Misano. I was able to do a great lap on my final tyre and that was enough for pole, and the team changed the tyre in the time of an F1 pit stop so thanks to them! We know that it's going to be a very tough race tomorrow, but we are in good shape.”

Describing his general Saturday work he added, “We expected it to be a bit cooler today but in the end it wasn't so different from yesterday and it's still very hard work for all the riders. This afternoon the grip wasn't great and we found it a bit harder with the race pace, but then we made a second round of modifications and everything felt very good.”

In his typically self-deprecating manner, Rossi explained the new helmet he is sporting this weekend, stating, “I have the donkey on it because in Italy, if you make a stupid mistake we say that you are a donkey. I made a mistake in Indy so this is why!”