Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo holds a commanding 47-point lead over Dani Pedrosa going into Sunday’s 32-lap race at Laguna Seca. He clocked a brilliant best lap of 1’20.978 to secure the 40th pole position of his career. This lap time denied Casey Stoner his 20th MotoGP pole position by just 0.191 seconds as the pair continued their domination of the American MotoGP weekend.

Stoner was quickest in yesterday’s opening practice but Lorenzo was in brilliant form today, the Spaniard topping second practice before continuing his qualifying domination.

“This was maybe the toughest pole position I got all year because the lap time of Casey was impressive,” said Lorenzo. “But I knew that second place was almost sure so I just thought I’d try because it is important to start in first position for tomorrow. I made two impressive laps, very close to the fast lap in 2008 that Casey made with the qualifying tire, so I’m very proud of these two last laps. I also have a great pace for the race with the soft and the hard tire.”

Lorenzo has yet to finish outside the top two all season and is seeking the sixth win of a fantastic 2010 campaign. He refused to comment on whether he expected a repeat of the epic 2008 American MotoGP clash between Stoner and Fiat Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi.

“I don’t know. The other guys are very close to us,” said Lorenzo. “It seems that Casey is strong here and we are almost at the same pace so for sure the start will be important and to keep a high pace for the whole race.”

A fastest lap of 1’21.169 by Stoner looked to have secured the Aussie his first pole position since the opening race in Qatar back in April. But he was denied by a superb late attack from runaway world championship leader Jorge Lorenzo.

“We knew we had a chance today to get pole position because everything has been going a little bit better for us this weekend,” said Stoner. “In general for the last four races we have been quite competitive, but it is race day that’s important. Just to be on the front row is enough for me.”

“Going out there we thought the bike feeling was pretty good and we still need to improve,” he continued. “But I thought I should have been able to go a little bit faster than what I did. When I did the first lap I was not that happy because I made a few mistakes and then I did the next lap which wasn’t so good. The lap after was my best but by then the tires had already gone off. I wasn’t really able to pull the best out of the bike or myself and I’m a little bit disappointed because I think I could have been a bit closer for the pole. Jorge’s lap was very impressive though but I’m a little bit disappointed not to get pole.”

Stoner’s aggravation manifested from his failure to make any big strides with the set-up of his factory Ducati GP10 machine as the day unfolded.

“We’ve been reasonably fast all weekend,” commented Stoner. “This morning I did 30 laps on the soft tire and my fastest lap at the end was my fastest lap of the session. We’re quite happy with the way things are going with longevity. But the qualifying lap that I did we had exactly the same bike settings that we had on this morning, so we tried a few things this afternoon but it seems to be going that way this season. We normally find a good setting in the first two sessions and then it is so difficult for us to improve it and make the bike work that much better. We didn’t really improve the bike at all. We had the same setting from this morning so to be honest I was a bit aggravated that we couldn’t improve the bike or get any better lap times or anymore of a comfortable feeling.”

Repsol Honda rider, Andrea Dovizioso logged a best time of 1’21.617 to top a fierce battle for the final place on the front row as Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner were untouchable at the front.

The Italian was 0.639-second behind Lorenzo’s Fiat Yamaha but less than a tenth clear of compatriot Valentino Rossi in sixth position. He said:

"This is the first time I had the possibility to be fast on this track and from the first session I was fast and we improved again this morning, especially in T4. For the final qualifying lap I pushed at 100% and I did my best final sector time - which gave me my fastest lap time and a place on the front row. But it is still not enough although I have a good pace. The pace of Jorge and Casey is faster but I am not too far away. I’m very happy about this session because this is my first front row of the season and qualifying was an area that we had to improve.”

Dovizioso commented at least starting in the top-three would help him challenge at the front from the start of the 32-lap race. His previous best qualifying of the season was fourth at Silverstone and Sachsenring.

“It is so important to be fast at the beginning because if you don't stay with the fastest riders then you have to push too much and you can't keep the pace. So it is important to start at the front. The race at 32 laps is really long but I have really good pace, but sure we need to find some speed for tomorrow. It is not so easy to understand the pace from qualifying. In some tracks you make the same pace in the race, so if I am in the same position they are faster. But Dani has a good pace and he is always a question mark, so we need to wait for the race."

Valentino Rossi was bumped to the back of the second row by a late charge from home favorite Ben Spies as he ended with a best time of 1’21.688. That was only 0.009 seconds slower than the Texan but Rossi’s pace was 0.710 seconds off teammate Jorge Lorenzo’s blistering speed at the top of the leader board.

Rossi, who broke his right leg in Mugello just seven weeks ago, once again found the nature of the spectacular Laguna Seca track tough on his weakened right leg and recovering right shoulder.

The 31-year-old, who finished in a fantastic fourth position on his comeback race in Germany last weekend, said: "I have a problem with my right shoulder and also the other shoulder because I have to compensate for the lack of power in my right shoulder. I am pushing with the left and in the end I don't have enough power to stop the bike like I want. This is the biggest problem. But my leg has improved a lot since yesterday and I have less pain. I hope to be able to make 32 laps with a good pace. The position is not fantastic but I'm happy with our work and especially at the end I improved the setting a lot and I am closer to the top and have a quite good rhythm. But Stoner and Lorenzo will be very tough. They are clearly faster than everybody but the other guys are not so far so I think if I am able to gain in two or three points, especially down the hill where I am not very fast, it is possible to make a good race."

The nine-time World Champion said it was not a surprise to see Lorenzo and Stoner with such a big advantage.

“They work very well and when you do this lap time it is not luck, you can’t invent this lap time,” commented Rossi. “You have to have great confidence with the bike and have good experience and be very fit. Casey is always very fast here in Laguna and Jorge has demonstrated that he is fast everywhere, so it will be very difficult for us tomorrow. But the important thing for me is to make another very good race and try to do some good lap times.”

Nicky Hayden will start the 32-lap race at Laguna Seca from a lowly seventh on the grid. The 2006 World Champion posted a best time of 1’21.920 to finish 0.232 seconds adrift of former Repsol Honda teammate Valentino Rossi. But Hayden, who has finished outside of the top six in the last three races remained candid.

“It was about like yesterday and I’m just not fast enough,” said Hayden. “We made really no steps this morning because we went backwards on some stuff. But this afternoon the team did a good job and we were quite a bit faster, but so was everybody else. I’m only three-tenths off front row, but here that’s a lot and the gap to the front here at Laguna, my home race, is too much. So I’m not happy about it, but we're not going home yet.”

Hayden said his big issue was getting his factory Ducati GP20 to turn at the first corner:

“Turn 1 is the big issue for me. I'm losing a lot of time in Turn 1. I cannot feel the front through there and I get a lot of moving. When I lean it over I get spinning in the rear while I'm still wide open and it starts upsetting the bike. That's a big problem for me.”

Spies was on course to move into third-place ahead of Andrea Dovizioso when he came up behind Kallio’s incident at the famous Corkscrew in the decisive final moments of the session.

The 26-year-old slowed down slightly and he eventually had to settle for fifth place on the grid for the 32-lap race. But Spies’ fastest lap of 1’21.679 was only 0.062 second away from the top three.

“It’s a little frustrating to be so close to my first front row,” said Spies. The last stint was good and I was actually on a front row lap for sure. I was a tenth quicker and then Kallio unfortunately crashed at the Corkscrew. As soon as I got in to the corner there was a big dust cloud and yellow flags were being waved. I was really scared that someone was on the downhill part and you can’t see going in there. I lost a tenth there for sure and that definitely kept me off the front row. He obviously didn’t do it on purpose and I tried to judge it as best as I could and keep my speed up but I wanted to play it safe and not plough somebody in the middle of the track.”

Spies is confident he can be in the fight for the second premier class podium of his career following up his stunning third place at last month’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone. He also understands that a dream victory is virtually out of his grasp with Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner so dominant at the front of the field.

“I’m happy being in the middle of row two and besides Casey and Lorenzo I’m in the battle for the podium and that’s where I want to be,” said the Texan. “I couldn’t be happier with that. I’m not that surprised they are so fast. Everybody knows how much raw talent Casey has got and Lorenzo right now is riding like ten men and full of confidence. I can see what he’s doing but I can’t do it right now. He’s just riding awesome and the fortunate thing for him is the guy that’s running his pace right now, isn’t a guy he’s battling with for the championship and he’s looking pretty sweet. Both those guys are pretty unbelievable. A mid-21 is not slow round this place and a 20.9 is real impressive. If I get a good start and stay out of trouble then I have the pace to fight for the podium. For the win, those guys are going way too fast now. You never give up but they are on another level right now from everybody. I’ll ride as hard as I can and have some fun in front of the home fans.”