Hayden fights back with Phillip Island pole.

After two costly races, MotoGP World Championship leader Nicky Hayden has fought back by taking his first pole position of the season, at Phillip Island, Australia.

The Repsol Honda rider last took pole at the same circuit one year ago, but his 2006 triumph was far more significant since it puts the American in a perfect pre-race position to, as intended, 'stop the bleeding' of his championship lead on Sunday.

However, Hayden took his fourth ever MotoGP pole after a beneficial tow from countryman Kenny Roberts Jr and after Michelin qualifying tyres had transformed the performance of his factory RC211V - which is struggling to provide grip on race tyres, something the 25-year-old hopes can be significantly improved in time for the race.

Reigning world champion Valentino Rossi seemed to suffer from the other extreme - a promising race set-up, but poor qualifying spec - and the Camel Yamaha star was left down in tenth place before his very final lap of the session threw him up to second, 0.251secs behind Hayden.

But Rossi, third in the championship and 26 points behind Hayden, was then demoted to third by a flying Shinya Nakano. The Japanese had taken provisional pole from rookie Kawasaki team-mate Randy de Puniet with 19 minutes to go, improved on that time with five-minutes remaining, before being toppled by Roberts then Hayden. The Japanese then responded by nipping 0.013secs ahead of Rossi to be the only Bridgestone rider on the front row.

Indeed, Nakano was the only Bridgestone rider in the top eight by the end of the hour - a surprising development considering that there had been four Bridgestone riders in the top five during Friday free practice.

The biggest Bridgestone losers were arguably Ducati Marlboro riders Sete Gibernau and Loris Capirossi, who were again fast on race tyres - Gibernau leading most of the opening half of the qualifying session - but then struggled badly on the super-sticky qualifiers and will start just 12th and 13th on the grid.

After a poor Friday, Rizla Suzuki suffered a second disappointing day with John Hopkins and home star Chris Vermeulen qualifying just fifteenth and sixteenth.

By contrast, two Yamaha riders produced a promising upturn in form with Rossi's team-mate Colin Edwards setting the fifth fastest time and Tech 3 Yamaha's Carlos Checa, fastest in final free practice, qualifying an excellent sixth on his Dunlop shod M1.

Hayden's Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa, riding with an injured right knee and left toe, improved on his cautious Friday pace but the Spaniard - second in the championship and 22 points from Hayden - will start just tenth on the grid for round fourteen of seventeen.

Qualifying:

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