Pedrosa takes pole ahead of Rossi

Home rider Dani Pedrosa claimed pole position for the Spanish MotoGP by posting the fastest time in a closely-fought qualifying session yesterday.

The 21-year-old edged out five-times world champion Valentino Rossi by .051 of a second to take the fifth pole of his career on his Honda.

"It was very tight but luckily we got the top time and that is good because the start here at Jerez is so important," Pedrosa told Spanish television.

His experienced fellow countryman Carlos Checa, who set the pace in free practice on his Honda, will complete the front row in today's race.

Rossi's Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards (US) was fourth quickest followed by Australian Casey Stoner, who notched his maiden MotoGP win on his works Ducati in the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix.

Suzuki's John Hopkins (US) was also on the second row while Japan's Shinya Nakano, Spaniard Toni Elias and Italian Marco Melandri made up the third row.

World champion Nicky Hayden was edged out of the closest top-10 in MotoGP qualifying history with the 11th fastest time. Less than half-a-second separated the riders on the first four rows of the grid.

Last year's Jerez winner Loris Capirossi struggled in 15th spot.

World champion Jorge Lorenzo took pole position for the 250cc race on his Aprilia ahead of Hector Barbera. A third Spaniard, Julian Simon, and Italy's Andrea Dovizioso completed the front row.

Mattia Pasini starts on pole in the 125cc category on his Aprilia, with Hungarian Gabor Talmacsi, Czech Lukas Pesek and Spain's Sergio Gadea joining the Italian on the front row.