Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Final 250cc Grand Prix Qualifying Results:

1. Fonsi Nieto, Aprilia, 1:52.389
2. Marco Melandri, Aprilia, 1:52.490
3. Randy De Puniet, Aprilia, 1:53.043
4. Yuki Takahashi, Honda, 1:53.666
5. Toni Elias, Aprilia, 1:53.667
6. Sebastian Porto, Yamaha, 1:53.701
7. Emilio Alzamora, Honda, 1:54.066
8. Roberto Rolfo, Honda, 1:54.067
9. Franco Battaini, Aprilia, 1:54.080
10. Alex Debon, Aprilia, 1:54.125
11. Shahrol Yuzy, Yamaha, 1:54.135
12. Naoki Matsudo, Yamaha, 1:54.457
13. Hiroshi Aoyama, Honda, 1:54.468
14. Tekkyu Kayoh, Yamaha, 1:54.562
15. Ryuji Yokoe, Yamaha 1:54.566


From a press release issued by MS Aprilia:

Macio on front row at Motegi

The undisputed leader during the first three test sessions at Motegi, Marco went out on the track today for the last qualifying session and launched his attack in the last few minutes – responding to a great performance by his fellow Aprilia rider Randy De Puniet. Two perfect laps in which Macio managed to take his Aprilia RSW 250 to 1’52.490, a time that was just beaten by a hair’s breadth by Fonsi Nieto (Aprilia) who came away with pole position: 1’52,389. So Marco Melandri is second, Randy De Puniet third. Three Aprilia 250s in the first three places. Marco, who had already worked hard on his bike yesterday in view of tomorrow’s race, and had also managed to make the provisional pole, showed today that he is capable of keeping up a very fast pace. One that might make the difference tomorrow.

# 3 Marco Melandri – (MS APRILIA RACING) – 2nd 1’52.490

“I’ve been paying extremely careful attention to the fine details of the bike and I’ll be able to keep up today’s pace in the race tomorrow. I got the impression that Nieto’s time was more of a fast lap to secure the pole. But that’s OK by me: the cabala, the statistics say that when Fonsi gets the pole, I normally win the following day. I just hope the air temperature’s like it was this afternoon. The bike’s going really well, and we’ve really gone into the details. I’m very pleased with the job we’ve done. It’s now time to get back to winning again. As I’ve already said, after two “tactical” races in the wet, I’m getting an appetite for victory.”