[kellyhound]

Feathers flew at Phillip Island on Saturday with Spanish star Jorge Lorenzo securing pole position for Sunday's Australian MotoGP despite having a seagull wedged in his Yamaha.

Lorenzo broke Aussie Casey Stoner’s lap record to qualify fastest in a sizzling time of 1’27.899 ahead of world championship leader Marc Marquez (1’28.120) and Valentino Rossi (1’28.647).

But the day will be remembered for when he collided with an unlucky seagull at the top of Lukey Heights.

The seagull somehow became wedged in the right fairing of his machine and stayed there for another few laps before the Spaniard was forced to pit to have it removed.

"I saw so many birds during the first lap of the practice," he said.

"I was thinking maybe I hit one.

"At the top of Lukey Heights I saw one bird come very close to my bike.

"I put my head down to avoid the bird, but the bird went down into my bike."

Lorenzo said he was unaware the seagull was wedged into his machine.

"I kept going because I didn’t know it was in the bike," he said.

"It didn’t actually seem to affect my speed too much.

"But then without the bird I was faster.

"Probably because I was lighter.”

He recovered to upstage Marquez – becoming the first man to break the 1min 28sec lap time barrier at Phillip Island.

[Faline]

"don't look if you're a vegetarian"

[CuriousCanadian]

Very nice camera work catching the moment

[Gadne]

"Honey, I know what we'll eat tonight."

[Desensitisation]

No matter how many times I watch the slow-mo, I can't figure out how the gull flipped head-first into the faring when it was flying away from the bike...

Edit: Ah.. did a 180 backflip. Cracked its head right into the bike. Quick death.

[Shakey]

Rats with wings.