Australian Casey Stoner took pole position on his Ducati for the season-ending Valencia MotoGP, shading local favourite Dani Pedrosa by 0.053 of a second on Saturday.

The 2007 world champion, who recorded his ninth pole of the season, starts ahead of last year's race winner Pedrosa, and the Spaniard's Honda team mate Nicky Hayden. The American had posted the quickest times in the three previous practice sessions, which had been held in damp conditions.

The second row is made up of American Colin Edwards and Britain's James Toseland on Yamahas, and Frenchman Randy de Puniet on another Honda.

Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo and Italian Andrea Dovizioso, who are fighting it out to be 'rookie of the year', start together on the third row. 2008 world champion Valentino Rossi was tenth fastest.

In the 250cc class, newly-crowmed world champion Marco Simoncelli of Italy pipped Spaniard Alex Debon to pole position on his last lap of qualifying.

Gilera's Simoncelli, Aprilia's Debon, Spaniard Julian Simon on a KTM and Finn Mika Kallio, also on a KTM, make up the front row for Sunday.

Hungarian Gabor Talmacsi took pole for the 125cc race ahead Spaniard Sergio Gadea, Italian Simone Corsi, and another Spaniard Nicolas Terol. All four ride Aprilias.

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