Simoncelli takes pole

Barcelona - Italy's Marco Simoncelli brushed off death threats to take pole position for the Catalunya MotoGP.

Simoncelli nearly slid out on his last qualifying lap on Saturday but held on for a quickest time of 1 minute, 42.413 seconds on his Honda. He will start from pole position on Sunday for the first time in the senior category.

Simoncelli is accompanied by two police escorts throughout the event at the Catalunya circuit after receiving death threats following his brush with Spain's Dani Pedrosa at the preceding French GP. Pedrosa needed collarbone surgery after the crash and is out of his home race.

Australian Casey Stoner, on a Honda, was second in 1:42.429, ahead of world championship leader Jorge Lorenzo of Yamaha, who set a time of 1:42.728. American rider Ben Spies of Yamaha completes the second row, while seven-time champion Valentino Rossi starts seventh.

Going into the season's fifth race, Lorenzo leads with 78 points, Stoner has 66 and Pedrosa is third with 61. Simoncelli has 22 points.

Moto2 leader Stefan Bradl secured his fifth straight pole position after edging Aleix Espargaro by one-tenth with a lap of 1:46.753.

In the 125cc category, championship leader Nicolas Terol of Aprilia was fastest in qualifying for the fourth time in five races to start ahead of fellow Spanish rider Hector Faubel on the front row.