Jorge Lorenzo's great pole at Laguna Seca

Jorge Lorenzo has taken his fifth consecutive pole, this time at the Californian circuit of Laguna Seca with an incredible time of 1:20.978

Casey Stoner has also set incredible times and for much of these official timed practice sessions he was in pole position, until Lorenzo used his hammer and Casey had to settle for second place.

In third place on the front row of the starting grid we find Andrea Dovizioso, who on the very last lap of these practice sessions snatched third position from Dani Pedrosa, sending him to the second row of the grid, something I suppose won’t worry Dani too much given the marvellous starts he has accustomed us to.

After Dani, in fifth place we find Ben Spies, who has shown he knows the circuit very well, placing himself ahead of Valentino Rossi, who is in sixth position on this starting grid. On the third row we find Nicky Hayden, who is the seventh of the riders to manage to dip under 1:21.

In tenth position we find Héctor Barbera, Aleix Espargaró in thirteenth and just behind him Alvaro Bautista in fourteenth.