Even though he has never seen the track before apart from on a video game Danny Kent gave a lesson to the other 26 riders of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup by dominating practice. The 15 year old Englishman kept pole with his time from the first 30 minute session even though Czech 16 year old Jakub Kornfeil jumped to second with a brilliant last lap. He was chasing 14 year old Japanese Daijiro Hiura who was 3rd fastest, also with his time from the 2nd session. “That was great fun,” said Kent. “It’s a really good track and I wanted to go quicker in the second session but by then the rear tyre was well worn and nearly caught me out. I’d just passed Sturla (Fagerhaug) and the rear let go, it tried to highside me, my feet were in the air but I got away with it. I came into the pits and the Dunlop engineer had a look, we decided not to try and do anything more in the last 5 minutes.” Kent is the only rider to have beaten Fagerhaug in the first half of the 8 race season. He is well placed to replicate his win in the second Jerez race especially as Fagerhaug starts from the 3rd row having qualified 9th. “I don’t know what it is I just don’t seem to be able to go fast at this track,” said Fagerhaug. “I think I’m not even as fast as I was here last year. It doesn’t help that I’ve had a pretty bad cold this week. I’m getting over it though.” Kornfeil was thrilled to be second even though he was frustrated not to be faster. “The bike is moving around quite a lot. I can’t get on the gas. I am sure I should be a second a lap faster,” said the Czech who admitted that it was another rider who made the difference on that final lap. “I chased Daijiro and that must have made the difference. Up to then I was trying, trying, trying but the rear was sliding so much I couldn’t improve the lap time.” Third fastest Hiura was pleased with the 8 10ths of a second improvement he made from the first session. “I was not happy after the first qualifying. I had to try very hard and we changed the bike a bit so both the bike and myself improved. Now I am looking forward to a good race.” Florian Marino, the 16 year old Frenchman, was 4th fastest but that time came from the first session as he crashed early in the second. “I caught up with Daniel Ruiz but he was going much slower, I had to grab the front brake and I crashed. It’s a shame as we were making some improvements to the front suspension, I had a lot of trouble with chattering.” Marino qualified just over a 10th of a second ahead of fellow Frenchman Nelson Major. “I really like the track,” said 16 year old Major. “It’s the fast corners, I love all of the last section and that is where I am fastest.” The drama of having Fagerhaug’s dominance threatened is great to see but a far better sight was Harry Stafford making his racing return. The 15 year old Englishman had not ridden since crashing in the first race in Jerez on May 2nd and being seriously concussed. He was encouraged not to hurry his comeback and after a full medical recovery spent a few days in Austria with Rider Coach Gustl Auinger to ease his return. “It’s great to be back on the bike, I’ve been waiting a long time for this,” said Stafford after the first session. “It feels great and I have to thank Gustl for helping me get ready. I went to his place in Austria and we did physical training, supermotard and went to the Pannoniaring for some laps on the Metrakit so I could be ready for this.” He qualified 15th. There were a number of fallers during practice, most without injury but Nico Thöni broke his left thumb and Joshua Hook his left collarbone, neither will race. The race action can be seen live on www.redbullrookiescup.com and starts at 16.25 CET on Saturday July 18th. Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Sachsenring, Germany July 17, 2009 Qualifying Results (all on KTM RC125s and Dunlop tires): 1. Danny KENT (GBR), 1:31.488 2. Jakub KORNFEIL (CZE), 1:31.738 3. Daijiro HIURA (JPN), 1:31.824 4. Florian MARINO (FRA), 1’31.832 5. Nelson MAJOR (FRA), 1:31.976 6. Jacob GAGNE (USA), 1:32.129 7. Alexander KRISTIANSSON (SWE), 1:32.138 8. Mathew SCHOLTZ (RSA), 1:32.227 9. Sturla FAGERHAUG (NOR), 1:32.441 10. Arthur SISSIS (AUS), 1:32.528 19. Benny SOLIS, Jr. (USA), 1:33.179 25. Hayden GILLIM (USA), 1:34.028