Moto GP / Trent Burton / 12 June 2011 /

Saturday qualifying produced some grim results for the Brits and a certain fans' favourite suffered too. But with the usual suspects in contention at the front, we should still see a splendid race, says Trent Burton in his final Silverstone paddock report.

Silverstone on Saturday was a less than brilliant place for the majority of the British fans. At least the rain stayed away. Just.

Scott Redding was a a shining light in qualifying second for the Moto2 race but beyond that it was a disaster. Fellow Moto2 rider Bradley Smith only completed two qualifying laps after being at the pointy end all weekend, as he was plagued with electrical problems. As such he'll start from 28th on the grid.

In MotoGP, Britain's hope, Cal Crutchlow, looked certain for a top six until a mistake on cold tyres in qualifying cost him dear. Cal is currently in hospital in Oxford awaiting surgery on the compound fracture he sustained on his collarbone in the fall and will obviously miss the race.

For fan favourite Valentino Rossi, Saturday was another catastrophe. Nothing seemed to work for the nine time world champion and he'll start from 13th on the grid. That's not a typo. It will take a miracle, even for Rossi, to make the podium tomorrow. To put that into some sort of context, last year, when the track was new to everyone, as it is to Rossi this year, Casey Stoner on the Ducati was close to one-and-a-half seconds quicker than Rossi was on Saturday.

So it should be no surprise that at the front of the grid it was business as usual. Dominant in free practice this morning and then again in qualifying, Stoner is still the man to beat, rain or shine. He'll start in pole despite it being a far from perfect lap. Speaking afterwards he said: "For pole position we changed the set-up and balance of the bike a little and on my best lap I lost the front a few times." He still shattered the lap record. His price is steady around [1.68] and I'll be taking some of that as he's as close as you can get to a sure thing at the moment.

The forecast is for rain, rain and more rain. Stoner's closest rival is Marco Simoncelli who proved in Jerez to be more than capable in the wet. His current price is [7.6] which says more about Stoner's form than anything else. If it is wet, it could become a bit of a lottery. Normally you'd suggest that [7.6] for the man who qualified second is the absolute best value bet of all time but, such is Stoner's dominance this weekend, I'm still a little reluctant.

Let's hope the weather is dry even though that appears to be little more than wishful thinking. Scott Redding will try to fly the British flag and he should be in the hunt for a podium. In the main class, though, it's all shaping up as yet another episode of The Casey Stoner Show.

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