MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

Romano Fenati has taken pole for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, winning a masterful game of chicken at the end of qualifying. Fenati was strong throughout the session, taking the lead early on, and improving as the session headed toward the close.

In the last ten minutes of QP, a waiting game began, with riders all looking at each other, waiting to exit the pit lane with the fastest riders. The fastest riders spent the final few minutes all looking at each other, not wanting to act as the hare to pull other riders to a fast time. With five minutes to go, riders started heading out, too late to make a concerted attack on pole.

Brad Binder, in second at the time, got to the head of one group, but was not going fast enough to help anyone improve. Just behind Binder, the chasing group benefited, with Andrea Migno, Nicolo Bulega, Khairul Idham Pawi and Pecco Bagnaia all improving their times. Migno leapfrogged Binder into second, with Bagnaia initially in third, until the Mahindra man was demoted down to eighth for cutting a corner on a flying lap. That put Pawi onto the front row, with Binder knocked back to fourth, ahead of Jorge Navarro and Enea Bastianini.

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