Rossi expects four-way race fight

The Italian took pole position for Yamaha as the team lived up to their pre-season hype, but Rossi is expecting a tough battle in the race.

"I am happy to be on top, but we wait for tomorrow because there are three or four guys who have the pace to win," he said.

The Italian was pleased to make such a strong start to the season, after he struggled for pace at the start of 2006.

"The start of the season is always important," he said, "and this is another world compared to '06. This is a great start."

Rossi's teammate Colin Edwards will join him on the front row, but the Yamahas will be split by last-year's pole-sitter Casey Stoner, who is making his first start for Ducati.

"The team has been great, we've been slowly getting used to each other," said the Australian.

Stoner believes that he is in better shape for the race than qualifying, and he was not expecting to be so close to the front.

"I didn't expect anything special for qualifying, but we managed to pull off a pretty good lap" he said.

"We did a race simulation this morning and we are looking very strong for tomorrow, so I'm happy to be on the front row."