Ono stopped the clock at 1:20.668 to claim pole position, and will be joined on the front grid by compatriot Hikari Okubo who clocked 1:21.041 and Australia's Joshua Hook Frederick who posted 1:21.594.
"Turn 1 is my nemesis! I crashed there during both the morning practice and afternoon qualifying practice even though the track conditions were perfect by then. (The track surface was still wet during the qualifying for the Underbone 115cc and SuperSports 600cc). There was some damage to the bike, but I am confident it will be repaired by tomorrow. The crashes have not affected me much. I still feel calm and ready to race," said Ono.
Touching on the topic of the Moto3 wildcard that has been offered as the ultimate prize in the inaugural Asia Dream Cup, Ono said, "I am not thinking of that right now. Of course, it was happy news, but too much thinking would disrupt my equilibrium. For now, I only want to win the first race," Ono stated emphatically.
Other riders within the top-5 included S. Sasitharen who was 4th fastest with 1:21.801 and Denny Triyugo Laksono 5th fastest with 1:21.853.
QUOTES:
Joshua Hook Frederick
I had to work extra hard in order to stay in touch with the leading duo. I am very happy with my position on P3 and hope that it will be a good launching pad for Race Day.
My mechanics have done a great job so far, but there is still a bit of tweaking to be done. Hopefully, enough to bring me to the podium.
Ko I-Chen
I'm facing some suspension problems, which is the cause for the poor laptimes. We're still trying out various combinations so I'm not putting such high targets for myself this round. A top-5 finish would be more than satisfactory. But I think realistically, placing 6th or 7th would be my goal for the first race.
Mohd Fitri Ashraf Razali
I had a strategy pow-wow with Sasitharen last night, and it obviously paid off as his advise had helped me improve on my laptimes - going from 9th fastest to 6th fastest today.
We are planning an element of team work during the race - but this strategy will depend on how close we are to each other.