Stoner storms to Australian MotoGP pole

Home hero Casey Stoner will start off pole position on the grid as he shoots for a sixth consecutive win in the Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island on Sunday. The Australian Repsol Honda rider again dominated his rivals Saturday with a blistering best lap time of one minute 29.623 seconds to start off the inside of the front for the penultimate race of the season. Stoner grabbed pole despite coming off his bike on new tyres on lap six before going on to post progressively faster lap times on his replacement bike. Stoner finished with a 0.517-second advantage over his nearest rival and world championship leader Jorge Lorenzo (1:30.140) on a Yamaha. Stoner's Spanish teammate and championship contender Dani Pedrosa (1:30.575) was almost a second behind the Australian as third fastest. Lorenzo leads Pedrosa by 23 points in the championship and can take his second MotoGP world title with a victory on Sunday. Stoner is battling the effects of recent surgery on torn ligaments and fractures to his ankle, tibia and fibula he suffered in a crash during qualifying for the Indianapolis MotoGP in mid-August. The Australian's hopes of defending his world title were ruined by the track mishap and he is out of contention, well back in third spot on the championship standings with two races left this season. Yamaha's British rider Cal Crutchlow was fourth fastest, ahead of German Stefan Bradl on a Honda, with Yamaha's Andrea Dovizioso sixth. Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi was well back in eighth spot, some two seconds behind Stoner.