Stoner on pole

5:29pm Sunday 20th July 2008

Australian Casey Stoner was imperious at Laguna Seca on Saturday, taking a fifth successive pole position by almost half a second.

Stoner, who won last year's United States Grand Prix from pole, continually bettered his own lap record on his Ducati Marlboro before setting a time of one minute 20.700 seconds - 1.5secs better than the previous best.

Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi, the only other rider in history to record five straight poles, was second fastest, 0.447secs adrift, with American Nicky Haden completing the front row.

Britain's James Toseland starts on the second row after qualifying fifth fastest for the 11th round of the MotoGP World Championship.

Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa missed the third and final qualifying session and has withdrawn from Sunday's race after suffering fractures to his left clutch finger and wrist and a sprained ankle in round 10 in Germany.

The Spaniard, who is second behind Rossi in the riders' standings, was in considerable pain during Friday's sessions and will miss his first race since 2003.

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