Third on Friday, after being blocked on his final lap, the Polaris World Aprilia rider was up to second - behind overnight pole holder Nicolas Terol - by the halfway stage of the 30 minute session.
After being briefly demoted to third, the
Crash.net columnist snatched pole from the still-too-improve Terol with five minutes left on the clock - then stunned his rivals by breaking a mighty 0.483secs clear on his next lap.
Terol eventually improved on his Friday time to be Smith's nearest rival, some 0.454secs adrift, while Qatar podium finisher Stefan Bradl and reigning world champion Gabor Talmacsi completed the front row.
Smith aside, the lap times were incredibly close with second to tenth covered by just 0.3secs. Smith will now hope to take his first ever grand prix victory on Sunday, having suffered steering damper 'problems' while leading at Qatar.
Final qualifying - Jerez:
1. Smith (Aprilia)
2. Terol (Aprilia) +0.454secs
3. Bradl (Aprilia) +0.483secs
4. Talmacsi (Aprilia) +0.526secs
5. Corsi (Aprilia) +0.541secs
6. Bonsey (Aprilia) +0.559secs
7. di Meglio (Derbi) +0.578secs
8. Redding (Aprilia) +0.728secs
9. Webb (Aprilia) +0.746secs
10. de Rosa (KTM) +0.758secs
