Casey Stoner of Australia riding the Repsol Honda has taken pole position at his home race in Philip Island. This is Stoner’s fourth straight pole at the picturesque circuit that is loved by all riders. Second place on the grid went to the gritty Jorge Lorenzo on the Yamaha and third to Marco Simoncelli riding the Gresini Honda. The big surprise perhaps is the Suzuki with Alvaro Bautista in fourth place on the grid and fifth is Andrea Dovizioso on the Repsol Honda. Ducati’s Nicky Hayden has sixth on the grid and seventh was taken by Ben Spies who had a massive crash and had to be taken to the medical centre. He came back to complete qualifying. The second surprise of the day is the eighth place qualifying effort of Dani Pedrosa. Colin Edwards and Loris Capirossi rounded up the top ten in ninth and tenth positions respectively. Valentino Rossi’s woes do not seem to have an end in sight as yet with him qualifying in a lowly thirteenth place. The race should be a cracker with Lorenzo claiming that Stoner is beatable.