"Stoner storms to Assen pole"

Champion of the world's Casey Stoner will start the Dutch TT pole position after a thrilling qualifying session at Assen.

The Australian Ducati rider set a record lap of 1:35.520 to edge Dani Pedrosa of Honda, Yamaha star Valentino Rossi completing the front row in third place.

Great Britain James Toseland showed impressive pace at times, but had to settle for a place 13, which means it will start from the Fithen row of the grid.

Americas Nicky Hayden, a winner in the Netherlands two years ago, was fourth fastest for Honda ahead of the French LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet and American Colin Edwards on a Yamaha.

Rossi leads the championship with 162 points after eight races, 11 points ahead of Pedrosa with Stoner at 117.

The meeting was marred by a series of high-speed crash for Kawasaki rider John Hopkins at the end of the session.

The American did not seem to be moving when medical personnel took him away from the scene, but retained consciousness.

Later it was revealed that he broke his left ankle in the incident, and it is very unlikely to take part in the rest of the weekend action.

Dutch TT - Qualifying

P.	Driver	Team	Time
1	Casey Stoner	Ducati MotoGP	1:35.520
2	Daniel Pedrosa	Honda HRC	1:35.552
3	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha Factory	1:35.659
4	Nicky Hayden	Honda HRC	1:35.975
5	Randy De Puniet	Honda LCR	1:35.985
6	Colin Edwards	Yamaha Tech3	1:36.278
7	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha Factory	1:36.532
8	Chris Vermeulen	Suzuki MotoGP	1:36.768
9	Shinya Nakano	Honda Gresini	1:36.804
10	Sylvain Guintoli	Ducati d Antin	1:36.823
11	Andrea Dovizioso	Honda Scot	1:36.899
12	Alex De Angelis	Honda Gresini	1:36.948
13	James Toseland	Yamaha Tech3	1:36.978
14	Antonio Elias	Ducati d Antin	1:37.287
15	John Hopkins	Kawasaki Racing	1:37.643
16	Anthony West	Kawasaki Racing	1:38.024