Valentino Rossi will start the first of four chances to secure the 2008
MotoGP World Championship from the head of the second row, having qualified a slightly 'disappointing' fourth at Motegi on Saturday.
Rossi's Fiat Yamaha team-mate
Jorge Lorenzo sealed an impressive pole position and will lead the field, with Rossi's nearest title rival
Casey Stoner second for Ducati and
Nicky Hayden third for Honda.
Even if Stoner wins, Rossi can win his first MotoGP title since 2006 if he finishes third on Sunday. Tenth or better will also guarantee an end to the challenge of third-in-the-championship
Dani Pedrosa, due to start alongside Rossi in fifth.
Rossi took provisional pole with his first qualifying tyre run of this afternoon, but was displaced soon after by Stoner, who was in turn bumped back by Lorenzo.
Despite improving with his next runs, Rossi was unable to make a dent in his team-mate's time and was then held up by a fallen
Alex de Angelis on his last attempt, meaning he was unable to improve and was edged off the front row by Hayden as a result.
"Honestly I'm a bit disappointed because the front row was our target today, but anyway fourth isn't too bad," said Valentino. "Unfortunately we spent a bit too much time with the race tyres and started our qualifying sequence a few minutes late, this meant that I was maybe one or two minutes late going out with my last tyre and I got a bit caught up with traffic when de Angelis fell.
"Anyway, our race pace is quite good so I am confident that we can be in the fight, although we will have to get a good start," he continued. "We have one or two small problems that we need to work on so we will use the warm-up to check a few things and I think we can improve a little bit more. I am not thinking about the championship right now, I will just aim for the podium and see what happens."
