Casey Stoner has stormed to pole position of the season with a dominating performance in the final qualifying of the 2011 season at the Gran Premio Gernerali de la Comunitat Valenciana.

The World Champion lapped a second quicker than his Repsal Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa, securing his 12th pole of the year.

In the last qualifying of the season, Stoner scored a best lap of 1m31.861s to equal the record of 12 pole positions in a single season set by fellow Australian and five-time 500cc world champion Mick Doohan.

Dani Pedrosa was 1.014 seconds behind Stoner to take the second spot on the starting grid, with Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies lapping a 0.1s behind the Spaniard to claim the final spot on the front row.

Pramac Racing’s Randy de Puniet concluded his strong practice performances, just missing a front start with a time 0.061s behind Spies to grab his second time starting from row two this season. Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) lapped 0.3s behind de Puniet to claim a second row start, with Valentino Rossi (Ducati) completing the second row.

Nicky Hayden will head the third row on his Ducati from Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) who suffered a crash and tumble just as the checkered flag was shown. He walking away from the crash.

Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) suffered a mechanical failure in the early part of the one hour qualifying. The Spaniard was able to get aboard his spare bike to finish the session in ninth which puts him in the final spot on row three for the race.

Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) completed the top 10, with Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Pramac Racing’s Loris Capirossi, who sports the number 58 on his machine to honour Marco Simoncelli, joining the Czech rider on row four.

Qualifying results for Valencia