Jorge Lorenzo became the victor of pole positions at Laguna Seca today, after stealing top spot in the dying seconds of qualifying.

Earlier practice sessions had suggested Dani Pedrosa would be the man to beat, however as qualifying took place it was a battle between Lorenzo and Casey Stoner that caught the attention. In the final minutes it was a the record breaking pace of the Yamaha rider that gave him a pole position start, whilst Stoner slotted into second place. After his earlier fast paced performances, Pedrosa set the third fastest time as the qualifying session came to a close, to also complete the first row of the grid.

Ben Spies continued a strong run for Yamaha at the sharp end of the grid with a fourth place start, as the American gets set to head row two. Spies endured a heavy crash in the closing stages of qualifying, however after walking away he managed to rejoin for the final few laps, as he attempted to hassle the front row of the grid. Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso, also riders of Yamaha machines, will complete an all Yamaha second row of the grid.

Alvaro Bautista secured a seventh place start from the third row of the grid, with Nicky Hayden and Stefan Bradl alongside him. Hayden’s Ducati teammate Valentino Rossi will start from tenth place after another difficult outing. The top CRT position went the way of Randy De Puniet on the Power Electronic Aspar machine, who narrowly missed out on a top ten start in eleventh place.

Qualifying Positions, MotoGP, Laguna Seca: