Stoner claims fourth pole in a row
Championship leader Casey Stoner took his fourth consecutive pole position by being fastest at Misano ahead of tomorrow's San Marino MotoGP
The Marlboro Ducati rider was heavily challenged by Fiat Yamaha rival Valentino Rossi, who shot to the top of the timesheets with one minute to go.
But the Australian responded in the dying seconds with a lap time of 1:33.918, beating the Italian's best by 0.176 seconds.
Reigning world champion Nicky Hayden completed the front row with the third fastest time. The Repsol Honda rider ended up half a second behind Stoner.
Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet led for most of the session, but ultimately had to be content with fourth best ahead of Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins and Hayden's teammate Dani Pedrosa.
Honda LCR's Carlos Checa will start the race from the seventh spot on the grid, sharing the third row with Chris Vermeulen's Suzuki and Colin Edwards's works Yamaha.
Anthony West rounded up the top ten with his Kawasaki, ahead of Sylvain Guintoli's Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3, Marco Melandri's Honda Gresini, and Loris Capirossi's works Ducati.
Pos Rider Make Time 1. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) 1:33.918 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (M) 1:34.094 + 0.176 3. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) 1:34.469 + 0.551 4. Randy de Puniet Kawasaki (B) 1:34.506 + 0.588 5. John Hopkins Suzuki (B) 1:34.536 + 0.618 6. Daniel Pedrosa Honda (M) 1:34.580 + 0.662 7. Carlos Checa Honda (M) 1:34.628 + 0.710 8. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) 1:34.717 + 0.799 9. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) 1:34.768 + 0.850 10. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) 1:34.939 + 1.021 11. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha (D) 1:35.202 + 1.284 12. Marco Melandri Honda (B) 1:35.236 + 1.318 13. Loris Capirossi Ducati (B) 1:35.283 + 1.365 14. Shinya Nakano Honda (M) 1:35.389 + 1.471 15. Toni Elías Honda (B) 1:35.632 + 1.714 16. Makoto Tamada Yamaha (D) 1:35.865 + 1.947 17. Alex Barros Ducati (B) 1:35.897 + 1.979 18. Kurtis Roberts KR (M) 1:36.605 + 2.687 19. Alex Hofmann Ducati (D) 1:36.659 + 2.741
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