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Marc Marquez claims pole at Australian MotoGP

World champion Marc Marquez easily secured pole position at the Australian MotoGP on Saturday.

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The Spanish Repsol Honda rider, crowned champion in Japan last week, took pole with a time of one minute, 30.189 seconds at Phillip Island.

Winner in Australia last year, Marquez was 0.792secs clear of Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) on a day of wild weather.

"I'm very happy with the pole position," Marquez told Fox Sports after his 65th career pole.

"We will see if tomorrow is dry because nobody knows the tyres, nobody knows how we can manage the race, but we will try to do our best."

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Qualifying was delayed after the red flag came out due to rain during fourth free practice earlier in the day.

But despite the threat of further rain in Q2, it stayed away and Marquez took control to be well placed for a sixth victory of the season.

Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was third quickest and, along with Crutchlow, was the only other rider within a second of Marquez.

Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales surprisingly missed out on Q2, qualifying 15th and 13th fastest respectively.

Jorge Lorenzo will start from 12th.

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Provisional Classification

1. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) 1:30.189seconds 2. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) 1:30.981s 3. Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) 1:31.107s 4. Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki Ecstar) 1:31.673s 5. Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia) 1:31.754s 6. Danilo Petrucci (OctoPramac Yakhnich) 1:32.420s 7. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda) 1:32.944s 8. Stefan Bradl (Aprilia Racing) 1:33.015s 9. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 1:33.090s 10. Hector Barbera (Ducati) 1:33.914s

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