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Misano - MotoGP leader Casey Stoner took pole position for the San Marino Grand Prix as the Australian continued his dominance of the season on Saturday.
The 2007 world champion, who has won seven races this season including the last three, smashed the qualifying lap record at the Misano circuit with a time of one minute 33.138 seconds.
Sunday's race will be the eighth time the Honda rider has started on pole position this season.
Defending champion Jorge Lorenzo took second spot on a Yamaha, 0.12 seconds behind, and his fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, on a Honda, third for the 13th of the 18-race season.
"It's been a good weekend, it's going to be a really hard race tomorrow and I think it's going to be a bit of a battle, Jorge and Dani are very close to us," said Stoner, who has a 45-point lead over Lorenzo with 25 points awarded for a race win.
"The team has done a good job, the bike feels pretty good and we managed to get some good times.
"I think we can more or less fight with the Hondas on Sunday," said Lorenzo, who traded fastest laps with Stoner until the Australian clocked his best time with 15 minutes of qualifying to go.
"They have been so quick that you must be more than 100 per cent with them to compete with them."
