Records fall in Donington qualifying.

Lap records tumbled during the opening day of qualifying for the British Grand Prix, but the achievement was overshadowed by falls of a different kind involving the pre-race MotoGP favourites.

Spectacular crashes for Repsol Honda riders Valentino Rossi and Tohru Ukawa in the morning's first free practice saw both men hospitalised for the afternoon qualifying session, and thus absent from a provisional grid, which is headed by West Honda Pons rider Alex Barros.

Team-mates Rossi and Ukawa were thrown from their RC211V machines, which have won every round of the season so far, with Rossi fracturing his thumb and leaving his hopes of a 100th grand prix in the balance. Ukawa suffered injuries to his hip, ribs, foot and stomach and will miss Saturday and Sunday's action. Rossi will undergo a fitness check on Saturday morning.

In the absence of the all-conquering Honda pair, pole position was a well-contested affair, with several two-stroke and four-stroke riders taking turns at the top of the timesheets. Although Barros led for most of the session, Max Biaggi left it late before launching his attack, and the pair exchanged the top two places with just minutes to go. Telefonica Movistar Suzuki rider Kenny Roberts also joined in the fun, slotting his GSV-R four-stroke machine onto top spot, before a pole record lap of 1min 31.877secs from Brazilian Barros relegated the American to second spot as the chequered flag was raised.

"It is very nice to see that I am the fastest ever rider to lap at Donington," Barros said, "I must give the compliment of that lap to my team, because everything worked so well. In the morning practice, I felt very good and was able to work on tyres and my setting for the race. I hope we can improve a couple of things tomorrow and set up the bike perfectly for the race."

Biaggi sealed third spot for Marlboro Yamaha and was joined on the provisional front row by teenage sensation John Hopkins. The Red Bull Yamaha rider, who was cheered on by his legions of English family and friends, confirmed his growing reputation as one of the hottest talents in MotoGP by lapping within 0.646secs of pole man Barros. Carlos Checa recovered from a crash early in the session to clock the fifth fastest time and position himself at the front of a provisional second row which also features home rider Jeremy McWilliams, sixth quickest on the Proton KR, and Yamaha riders Norick Abe and Shinya Nakano.

Competition in the 250 class continues to intensify, with rookie Toni Elias improving with every lap on board his quarter-litre Aprilia and showing signs that he can take the challenge to title chasers Marco Melandri and Fonsi Nieto. Elias spent much of the afternoon session leading the time charts, but he missed out on provisional pole position to his team-mate Nieto.

Melandri then relegated the young Spaniard to third, whilst Honda rider Roberto Rolfo broke onto the front row in fourth. The Italian's last lap effort relegated Sebastian Porto to fifth place, and the Yamaha rider heads the second row alongside Franco Battaini, Haruchika Aoki and Randy de Puniet.

Manuel Poggiali clocked a fearsome final lap to take provisional pole in the 125 class, later warning his rivals he can go even faster tomorrow if the favourable weather continues. The world champion's time of 1min 38.078secs was a new pole record at the circuit and was enough to see off the challenge of Danny Pedrosa, who had topped the time sheets for most of the session. Pedrosa was second quickest and is joined on the provisional front row by Youichi Ui and Alex de Angelis.