Casey Stoner stormed to his 11th pole position of the year by obliterating his rivals in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island. The championship leader did not show his hand during the first half of the session, and, after running on at the Honda corner, looked as though he may have to settle for fourth spot when Marco Simoncelli knocked him off the front row with 17 minutes to go. But that was merely the home hero's cue to unleash his raw pace; the Honda rider doing so by going fastest in 1m30.042s and then improving twice more to finish the session with a pole time of 1m29.975
Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr Carl Michael Edwards III William Clyde Elliott Jeffrey Michael Gordon