Casey Stoner snatched pole position for the Australian Grand Prix after setting a record-breaking time in the final moments of qualifying on Saturday.
The 2007 world champion, who earlier this week revealed he faces a career-saving operation in the winter to repair his left wrist, recorded a time of one minute 28.665 seconds on his last lap for his eighth pole of the year and first at his home race.
Stoner, on the Marlboro Ducati, edged out Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo by just 0.069sec in dry conditions at the Phillip Island circuit while also setting a new lap record.
There was disappointment for Lorenzo's team-mate Valentino Rossi, however, as he could only qualify 12th fastest with a time of 1:30.014sec.
The newly-crowned world champion suffered a crash with 15 minutes of the session remaining after he ran out of track and fell awkwardly into a gravel trap.
‘I was pushing a lot with the qualifying tyre but unfortunately I went too wide at turn two and I came onto the grass on the exit,’ explained the six-time champion.
‘I thought I could take the bike back onto the track but, as soon as I touched the muddy grass I lost control and I couldn't stop it. Then I bumped my head and neck pretty hard when I landed in the gravel.
‘It's a pity that I will have to start from 12th tomorrow, because this afternoon, with my Bridgestone race tyres, I had a very good pace.’
Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden, who had gone fastest in the final practice session earlier on Saturday, completed the front row after a quickest lap of 1:28.756s.
Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) heads the second row and is joined by Tech 3 Yamaha's James Toseland, the Briton enjoying his best qualifying performance since Laguna Seca in July. Dani Pedrosa completes the second row on the Repsol Honda.
Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha), Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot) and Shinya Nakano (Honda Gresini) make up the third row.
Meanwhile, Marco Simoncelli broke the class lap record around Phillip Island by over a second as he stormed to pole for the 250cc race, while series leader Mike di Meglio took the honours in the 125cc class ahead of Bradley Smith who lines up second.
