Pedrosa seizes Sachsenring pole, Rossi sunk.

Relentless MotoGP rookie Dani Pedrosa has taken his fourth pole position of the 2006 season during qualifying for the German Grand Prix - with Kenny Roberts his surprise nearest rival.

Pedrosa, who enjoyed a dominant win from pole last time out at Donington Park, took until the 46th minute of the hour to first appear at the top of the timesheets - only to be quickly demoted by Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano.

The Japanese was still in command with just three-minutes to go - at which point Pedrosa, a double MotoGP race winner already this year, suddenly leapt a full 0.458secs clear of the field, effectively ending what had been an otherwise close session.

Pedrosa is currently second in the world championship standings, 26 points behind Repsol Honda team-mate Nicky Hayden - and the #69 was the first to partially bridge Dani's advantage, lapping 0.268secs slower than the 20-year-old Spaniard for second place, before another American got even closer still...

Roberts, riding the same spec KR211V that he took to a breakthrough podium finish at Catalunya, had been only eighth as the final five minutes began - but then shot to within 0.093secs of Pedrosa with the chequered flag waving, signaling that he'll be a real force to be reckoned with tomorrow.

Roberts' performance means that Honda V5 engines will fill the front row of Sunday's grid, with Nakano holding on to head row two after impressively overcoming handling problems - and a fall - during free practice.

Next to Shinya will be another Bridgestone rider, Loris Capirossi, who will in turn start just ahead of fellow injured Italian Marco Melandri - with Capirossi's Ducati Marlboro team-mate Sete Gibernau an excellent seventh on his return from collarbone surgery.

By contrast, world champion Valentino Rossi - like all the Yamaha riders - suffered another tough day in Germany, and was 'treading water' down in 15th with two minutes of the session remaining.

The Italian superstar, who is fighting mechanical rather than physical problems this weekend, later dragged his M1 up to just eleventh place by the flag - just over one second from Pedrosa - and will need to call upon all his considerable talents to close the 35 point championship gap to Hayden on Sunday.

Worryingly for Camel Yamaha, Tech 3 Yamaha's Carlos Checa lapped within one tenth of Rossi with his Dunlop tyres to be the next best M1 rider this afternoon, with Rossi's factory team-mate Colin Edwards starting just 15th on the grid.

Full times to follow...

Qualifying:

1. Pedrosa
2. Roberts
3. Hayden
4. Nakano
5. Capirossi
6. Melandri
7. Gibernau
8. Stoner
9. Hopkins
10. Tamada
11. Rossi
12. Checa
13. de Puniet
14. Vermeulen
15. Edwards
16. Elias
17. Hofmann
18. Ellison
19. Cardoso