2001 Grand Prix 500 - Round 12 - Valencia

Valentino Rossi will take little comfort from today's first qualifying practice for the elite 500cc class despite controlling the session from start to finish. His best time of 1'35.434 is likely to be bettered tomorrow barring adverse weather conditions.

Rossi's position at the top of the time sheets was never in real danger, although Alex Barros and Loris Capirossi did eventually close in on the Italian to take second and third positions respectively. Sete Gibernau made the most of recent improvements made to his Suzuki to join the Honda machines on the front row of the provisional grid.

"Today's qualifying wasn't so bad," said Rossi. "We worked on the setting, the tyres and the suspension but we're not at 100% yet and we'll try tomorrow to make things a little better. I'm sure that with a little hard work we can get the time down to below 1'34."

Max Biaggi ran fourth in the closing stages of this afternoon’s opening qualifier but slipped to sixth at the end of the session, only 0.340 seconds off provisional pole. The Italian, currently second in the World Championship, is struggling to find grip through the anti-clockwise track’s two right-handers.

“We have a few little suspension and bike balance problems to work on, plus some vibration,” said The Marlboro Yamaha Team rider. “But our main concern is the right-handers. There are only two of them here, so it’s not easy to get the tyres hot on that side. It’s a bit strange because this is not something we’ve struggled with before at this track. We’re working with Michelin to find a solution but at the moment it’s complicating our work on set-up. We’re hoping to make a step forward tomorrow and get on the front row.”

Ukawa had a consistent session and eventually set the fifth fastest lap to head the second row just in front of Biaggi in sixth. Roberts also set constant times and lines up in seventh place ahead of McCoy, who thrilled onlookers and frightened the life out of his pit garage with some typically wild rear tyre sliding manoeuvres.

McCoy scored one of his three 500cc victories at Valencia last year and is hoping for a repeat in Sunday's race - just three weeks before his home event, the Qantas Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Victoria's Phillip Island on October 12-14.

McCoy, who was just 0.577 seconds slower than pacesetter Rossi, said: "We have improved rear wheel grip quite a lot and I'm happy about that, but at the same time it has made the bike a bit difficult to turn into the corners. Maybe in final qualifying we'll set up my two bikes a little differently. On one we'll keep the grip and try to improve the steering; on the other we'll reduce the grip a little and let the back slide to help line the bike up for the corners."

Spain's Carlos Checa was pushed out to ninth position, and leads a third row which also features the Japanese trio of Abe, Nakano and Haga in that order. Criville crashed in the morning session but was able to ride in the afternoon and eventually qualified in thirteenth.

Melandri led an expected Aprilia attack on 250 World Championship leader Katoh, the youngster recovering from a minor crash to take provisional pole as colleagues from the Italian factory completed the front row positions. Melandri's team-mate Harada was second fastest, whilst home riders Fonsi and Debon, of the Valencia Circuit Aspar Team, took the third and fourth positions on the provisional grid. Those encouraging performances from the Spanish duo coupled with another solid qualifying session from the consistent McWilliams, also of Aprilia, meant that Katoh was forced to settle for sixth place, just ahead of another Aprilia, ridden by Italian privateer Rolfo.

Toni Elias eventually came out on top in a fierce battle for provisional pole in the 125 class. Elias became the first ever rider to lap the Ricardo Tormo circuit under 1'41 on a 125cc machine, his last lap time of 1'40.910 proving too hot for the Italian pairing of Sanna and Borsoi, who also launched late pole assaults in a thrilling final few minutes of the session. Spanish youngster Elias had set the early pace but conceded ground to Vincent, who topped the time sheets for long periods until the late reshuffle. The Frenchman was eventually relegated to the second row, as Sanna, Borsoi and Poggiali forced their way through to take second, third and fourth respectively.