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Gibernau takes late pole position
 Gibernau is looking to secure his first championship win of the season VALENCIA, Spain -- Spain's Sete Gibernau snatched pole position for the season-ending Valencia MotoGP with a blistering final lap in qualifying on Saturday. The Catalan, looking to salvage a disappointing campaign with his first win of year, set a pole record of one minute 31.87 less than two minutes before the end of the session. However, world champion Valentino Rossi suffered a major setback in his bid to match Australian Mick Doohan's 1997 record of 12 wins in a season. He finished a lowly 15th on the grid after his worst qualifying of the season. The colorful Italian, winner in Valencia the last two years, struggled with power delivery problems on his Yamaha and slid off the track late in the session on a fast in-and-out corner on the tight and twisty Ricardo Tormo circuit. Rossi hitched a lift back to the pits, patched up his leathers and, despite problems with his hand, returned to the track. He was unable to improve on his time, though, and had to settle for an unaccustomed slot on the fifth row of the grid. Fellow countryman Marco Melandri, who secured his maiden MotoGP victory in Turkey two weeks ago, was second fastest in qualifying 0.237 seconds behind Honda team mate Gibernau. American Nicky Hayden, who is vying with Melandri for the runners-up spot in the championship, posted the third quickest mark to complete the front row of the grid. Spain's Carlos Checa confirmed his impressive end-of-season form by leading off the second row on his Ducati, ahead of Honda rider Max Biaggi and Rossi's team mate Colin Edwards. 
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