Stoner beats Lorenzo to Valencia pole

Having been fastest in two out of three practice sessions, Stoner stated his intentions right at the start of qualifying with a blistering 1m32.666s on his second flying lap - 1.5 seconds quicker than anyone else at that point. He then went ploughing through the Turn 1 gravel at the start of the next lap but quickly recovered.

Lorenzo soon closed in, and took over provisional pole for 25 minutes of the session with a series of ever-quicker laps.

But Stoner still had pace in hand, delivering a 1m31.866s with six minutes to go, putting him back on pole by 0.3s. Lorenzo could not improve on his own 1m32.130s, and then Stoner made absolutely certain of pole with a 1m31.799s as the flag fell.

Marco Simoncelli claimed his first front-row start with a superb third place for Gresini Honda. The Italian looked set to hold provisional pole at one point, had he not lost time behind Loris Capirossi's Suzuki at the final corner.

Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) had a quiet session, eventually working his way up to fourth ahead of Stoner's team-mate Nicky Hayden.

The Tech 3 Yamahas took sixth and seventh, Ben Spies ahead of Colin Edwards, as the works Hondas disappointed - Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso only eighth and ninth, followed by Marco Melandri on Gresini's other bike.

Pos  Rider             Team               Time       Gap
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati             1m31.799s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha             1m32.130s  + 0.331s
 3.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda      1m32.244s  + 0.445s
 4.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha             1m32.330s  + 0.531s
 5.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati             1m32.422s  + 0.623s
 6.  Ben Spies         Tech 3 Yamaha      1m32.566s  + 0.767s
 7.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha      1m32.579s  + 0.780s
 8.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda              1m32.603s  + 0.804s
 9.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda              1m32.886s  + 1.087s
10.  Marco Melandri    Gresini Honda      1m32.917s  + 1.118s
11.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda          1m32.925s  + 1.126s
12.  Aleix Espargaro   Pramac Ducati      1m33.085s  + 1.286s
13.  Hector Barbera    Aspar Ducati       1m33.170s  + 1.371s
14.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki             1m33.339s  + 1.540s
15.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Interwetten Honda  1m33.343s  + 1.544s
16.  Carlos Checa      Pramac Ducati      1m33.499s  + 1.700s
17.  Alvaro Bautista   Suzuki             1m33.515s  + 1.716s