The top spot on the MotoGP grid will, for the seventh consecutive race, be occupied by reigning World Champion Casey Stoner tomorrow, with the Ducati Marlboro rider completing his clean sweep of practice session outings at Misano.

Stoner had to dig deep for the honour of leading off the Gran Premio Cinzano di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, fighting back against some tough rivals on his final lap of the Saturday afternoon qualifying session. The Australian got back into his stride in the final two splits of the Misano circuit, with his 1´33.378 too much for even his most persistent challengers to match.

Half a second separated Stoner and World Championship leader Valentino Rossi´s fastest times on qualifying rubber, although the latter had been poised for a popular home pole until the last minutes of the run. Rossi will start from second on the grid for the third race in a row, an important placing if he is to catch his rival.

Stoner also extends his lead in the BMW M Award, having picked up his latest Tissot watch as a pole position prize. He will not, however, be placing the timepiece on his wrist anytime soon, with his wrist heavily bandaged and braced to protect a scaphoid fracture.

Jorge Lorenzo returns to the front row for the first time since the Portuguese round in Estoril back in April, third on the grid alongside Fiat Yamaha teammate Rossi. The Spaniard had laid down some fierce lap times during the qualifying session, something that will please not just himself and his team but also tyre manufacturer Michelin.

Randy de Puniet just missed out on the front row with his LCR Honda RC212V, the fastest rider for the Japanese factory. He is joined by Alice Team´s resurgent Spaniard Toni Elias and Repsol Honda´s Dani Pedrosa on the second line.

Chris Vermeulen, Shinya Nakano and James Toseland will be just behind the trio when the lights go out at Misano on Sunday afternoon.

Hector Barbera took the pole position baton from Marco Simoncelli in the second qualifying session for the 250cc Gran Premio Cinzano di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, his second top spot of the 2008 season.

The morning session´s fastest rider, Team Toth Aprilia man Barbera put in a hot lap of 1´38.912 that went unmatched by his rivals, with World Championship leader Simoncelli falling short by just 0.077 as the chequered flag fell to mark the conclusion of the outing. The Metis Gilera rider had not been able to better his provisional pole time from Friday until his final run.

Aleix Espargaro will line up on the front row for the first time in his 250cc career, taking his Lotus Aprilia round a further seven-tenths of a second back on Barbera. Yuki Takahashi´s fourth spot on the grid is the first appearance for a Honda rider on the front row in 2008.

Last year´s runner-up at Misano, Hiroshi Aoyama heads row two, ahead of Thoms Luthi, Julian Simon and Hecor Faubel. A star-studded third line features home rider Mattia Pasini, title chaser Mika Kallio, form rider Alvaro Bautista and Brno racewinner Alex Debon.

Gabor Talmacsi racked up his third pole position in as many races with a superb qualifying run at Misano, never conceding the provisional pole taken in the opening timed session on Friday.

The reigning 125cc World Champion kept improving right until the end of the Saturday afternoon run, with a 1´43.729 lap on his final run holding off second fastest rider Bradley Smith.

Polaris World rider Smith was just under two tenths of a second slower than Bancaja Aspar man Talmacsi, as he took his eighth front row spot of the season. The Briton was onboard the Aprilia machine used by racewinner Mattia Pasini at Misano last year.

Talmacsi is something of the odd man out on the front row, the only rider over the age of 17 to place in the top four. Belson Derbi and Blusens Aprilia teenagers Pol Espargaro and Scott Redding line up alongside Talmacsi and Smith on the first line.

The top two riders in the World Championship will be side-by-side on the second row, with Simone Corsi and Mike di Meglio in fifth and sixth, respectively. Sandro Cortese and Marc Marquez complete the line.