Stoner on pole for Valencia Moto GP season finale

VALENCIA, Spain (AFP) - – Australia's Casey Stoner of Ducati on Saturday secured pole position ahead of Spaniards Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo in qualifying for Sunday's season-ending MotoGP Valencia Grand Prix.

Stoner, who won on the Ricardo Tormo circuit here last year, will start from the front for the 22nd time in his career and the 18th time in MotoGP.

The Australian led from the eighth minute of the session and only Lorenzo looked capable of trumping him.

Valentino Rossi, who has already been crowned 2009 MotoGP champion, was fourth fastest ahead of the American Colin Edwards.

"Im really happy, everythings gone really well and weve been quickest in every session," said Stoner, who is bidding for a third successive win after missing three rounds with fatigue.

"Weve made small improvements to the bike each day. The only problem weve got now is the pretty windy conditions, which is making it very difficult to ride and understand where the limit is.

"I lost the front (of the bike) a few times on the last qualifying tyre, but theres no way were going to be pushing that hard in the race."

Having secured his first ever Grand Prix win at Valencia in the 125cc category in 2003, Stoner was victorious last year in the premier class at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit here.

A third successive win would be the perfect way to round off the year for the 24-year-old.

"Itd be a nice end to the season weve had so far," Stoner added.

"Its definitely not gone the way we wanted it to, but Im very happy with the way things have gone so far in this last period, and well just have to see what tomorrow brings."