Casey Stoner braves crash to grab MotoGP pole

CASEY Stoner proved he was human. Then, perhaps that he's superhuman.

Stoner on pole

CASEY Stoner proved he was human. Then, perhaps that he's superhuman.

Stoner claimed pole position at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix in extraordinary style today, clocking his best lap just minutes after being flipped off his bike.

Already carrying an ankle injury, a record Phillip Island crowd held their breath as Stoner was bucked off his bike and landed heavily on his hip in the middle of his qualifying session.

As he and the bike slid off the circuit, Stoner's out-of-control Honda trailed desperately close to his injured leg.

But after limping away to the pits to get on his spare bike, Stoner rode out and did what no one else had been able to do at Phillip Island this weekend - break 1min 30sec.

He then managed two even quicker laps.

His best of 1:29.623 put him on pole ahead of Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo (1:30.140) and Stoner's Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa (1:30.525).

The local hero admits to a sore hip from the tumble.

But he doesn't envisage it stopping his attempts at history and destiny tomorrow, chasing a fairytale goodbye to the Australian MotoGP with a sixth successive win.

“My biggest concern was my ankle and as long as I haven't damaged that, we can deal with the rest of it no problem,” Stoner said of the damaged joint that was surgically repaired just weeks ago.

“I'm not too worried.”

Stoner has dominated for two days with perfect performances in all three practice sessions prior to today's qualifying.

His home soil farewell continues to bring record crowds to the Australian Grand Prix - a new Saturday Phillip Island high of more than 40,000 on hand to watch the 27-year-old who retires after the final race of the season in Spain in a fortnight.

Lorenzo leads Pedrosa by 23 points in the championship and they are the only two riders who can win the MotoGP title.

Australian Kris McLaren, making his MotoGP debut as a late replacement rider for the Avintia team, failed to qualify inside the cutoff time for Sunday's race.

McLaren, from Leongatha in Victoria, had a fall just prior to Stoner's.

He improved markedly on his times of yesterday, but was still the slowest of the 20 riders.

He will have one final chance to make the qualifying mark during the morning warm-up session tomorrow.

Anthony West qualified ninth fastest for the Moto2 GP undercard race.

AAP