Stoner captures Laguna Seca pole

MONTEREY, California (Reuters) - World championship leader Casey Stoner claimed pole position on his final qualifying lap for the U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca Raceway on Saturday.

The Australian, a five-time race winner this season who posted the top times in all three practice sessions, steered his Ducati round in 1 minute 22.292 seconds at an average speed of 157.925kph.

Spain's Dani Pedrosa was second quickest for Honda, over two tenths in arrears, with Stoner's compatriot Chris Vermeulen third for Suzuki.

Stoner, who leads the world championship by 32 points from Yamaha's Valentino Rossi, claimed his third pole of the season, but he has yet to win this campaign after starting from the front.

"I wasn't feeling too confident because I had a couple of front tucks on an earlier run," Stoner told reporters after netting his second straight pole.

"But we managed to pull it off. The qualifying tyres were pretty good for two laps. I'm really happy."

World champion Nicky Hayden of the United States, seeking his third straight win in the race, began the qualifying session slowly, but improved and had the fourth fastest effort of 1:22.624.

"It went pretty well," said Hayden, who finished third last week in Germany, but is only ninth in the standings.

"But when the track heats up, I don't have as good a feel. But the qualifying tyres were really good and I felt like I should have gone faster.

Italian Rossi, the five-time top category world champion, qualified in 1:22.683 after an earlier spill left with shoulder and finger injuries.

Qualifying was delayed for 10 minutes early in the session when Italy's Marco Melandri crashed into the dirt infield after clipping American rider Kurtis Roberts.

Melandri was taken off the track for examination, but he later limped back to his bike and posted the 10th fastest qualifying time, 1:23.018.

The 32-lap, 115.52-km race, the 11th in the 18-event calendar, will be held Sunday.