Stoner On Pole At Phillip Island

Phillip Island Casey Stoner took pole for Sunday's Australian MotoGP

The Repsol Honda rider had led all three practice sessions at Phillip Island before posting a time of 1'29.975 to secure pole ahead of reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo.

Stoner - who can win a second world championship at his home race - was fastest with the Yamaha factory rider Jorge Lorenzo second and San Carlo Honda Gresini's Marco Simoncelli third.

Stoner looks as though he will repeat last years performance when the Australian lead all sessions, took pole and rode to victory ahead of Jorge Lorenzo.

Stoner needs to score 10 points more than Spain's Lorenzo to regain the title he won in 2007, the Repsol Honda man who celebrates his 26th on Sunday would relish the chance to make it a double celebration by wrapping up the 2011 title in front of his home crowd.

San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli landed on the front row for the first time since the Mugello round, with a best effort of 1’30.599, while Álvaro Bautista had his and Rizla Suzuki’s best qualifying of the season with fourth, following the Italian by 0.115s.

Andrea Dovizioso in his last season with Repsol Honda joins Bautista on row two after posting a time of 1’30.780, as does Ducati rider Nicky Hayden, who had an early run off in the first 15 minutes, before getting himself together and briefly holding third on the leaderboard, finally settling in sixth with a time just 0.012s off Dovizioso’s.

Yamaha Factory Racing's Ben Spies also had an off track excursion followed by shortly by a heavy crash while negotiating turn 3. The Texan returned to the box, then quickly got back on track to immediately take seventh in a speedy recovery, a position he maintained with a time of 1’30.835.

Dani Pedrosa, who has been off the pace this weekend followed the Texan by 0.036s to place eighth on the grid, the Spaniard was the last rider to lap within a second of Stoner’s leading time. Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Colin Edwards posted ninth quickest, with Loris Capirossi completing the top ten on his Pramac Racing machine, his team mate Randy De Puniet narrowly missed out on the top ten by 0.052s.

Damian Cudlin did not run within the 107% qualifying time, the Australian replacement for Héctor Barberá on the Mapfre Aspar team was still sore from a morning crash, however he will be allowed to compete on Sunday as he was fast enough during the practice sessions to get on grid.
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Valentino Rossi's miserable season continued as the Italian could only qualify in 13th place, with British rider Cal Crutchlow just behind in 14th.

Phillip Island qualifying times:

1) Casey Stoner (Aus) Repsol Honda 1'29.975
2) Jorge Lorenzo (Spn) Yamaha 1'30.448
3) Marco Simoncelli (Ita) Gresini Honda 1'30.599
4) Alvaro Bautista (Spn) Suzuki 1'30.714
5) Andrea Dovizioso (Ita) 1'30.780
6) Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati 1'30.792
7) Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha 1'30.835
8) Dani Pedrosa (Spn) Repsol Honda 1'30.871
9) Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'31.237
10) Loris Capirossi (Ita) Pramac Ducati 1'31.583
13) Valentino Rossi (Ita) Ducati 1'31.980
14) Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'32.023