Marlboro Ducati's Casey Stoner has obliterated the MotoGP field at Misano this afternoon, setting pole position by half a second in front of Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi.

The Aussie, who is riding with an aggravated scaphoid injury in his left wrist, took his seventh pole in a row with a 1'33.378 which is six-tenths faster than last year on a track which is nearly 50 metres longer.

Rossi's team-mate Jorge Lorenzo rounded out the front row after sitting at the top of the timesheets with nine minutes of the session remaining.

It then looked to be battle between Stoner and The Doctor, with Rossi going quickest on a qualifying tyre with five minutes left, setting a 34.113 until Lorenzo went out and was the first man under 1'33s with a 33.064.

Stoner then returned to the track with two minutes to go and set his pole time but it didn't look like he was to have it all his own as Rossi, on his final lap, was half a second quicker on the first split time.
However, it was not to be as Rossi then lost time through the rest of the lap, including the third split where he has been fastest all weekend, and had to settle for second with a 1'33.888, which was also faster than last year's pole of 1'33.918.

LCR Honda's Randy De Puniet, who held pole with 22 minutes to go with his first lap on a qualifier, is at the head of the second row with Toni Elias and the returning Dani Pedrosa sixth.

Britain's James Toseland ended the session in ninth, just over a second off Stoner's pace, with Tech3 Yamaha team-mate Coin Edwards just behind him.
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