Stoner steals Rossi's thunder

Championship leader Casey Stoner broke the home crowd's hearts as he claimed a dramatic pole in Misano for Sunday's MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix.

Local hero and championship rival Valentino Rossi had been fronting the grid on his Fiat Yamaha with one minute to go in qualifying but the Australian bettered his time by 0.176 seconds with his final lap.

It was Stoner's fourth consecutive pole as he looks to extend his 60-point lead over Rossi in the championship but the Ducati Marlboro rider is taking nothing for granted.

"We haven't turned all my poles so far this year into wins," he said. "I'd like to think we could do that on Sunday but I think it's going to be a very hard race.

"We are pretty happy with the settings we have at the moment - we were fast on Saturday morning when we did race distance on our softest compound race tyres and everything is looking pretty good for the race.

"But we'll just have to wait and see, because I'm not really sure about everyone else's situation."

Rossi's second place was the first time he had achieved a front-row start for three races as he attempts to cut Stoner's lead at the top of the championship.

The Italian was roared on by thousands of fans at the newly-revamped Misano circuit and is predicting a tough race tomorrow for all riders.

"Casey is very fast once again and we know that it's going to be very hard on Sunday, but starting from the front is going to make things much easier and now I am looking forward to a fun race," he said.

"The atmosphere was unbelievable, there are so many fans and so much yellow around the circuit, it was really important for me to make a good result like this."