Capirossi charges to Motegi pole.

Ducati's Loris Capirossi has taken his first pole position since round one at Jerez, to lead an all-Italian front row for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.

Much of the hour was led by Kawasaki rookie Randy de Puniet, but as the crucial final 15 minutes approached Capirossi pushed his way to the top - then delivered a crushing 1min 45.724secs lap record. That put the double 2006 race winner a huge 0.788secs in front of fellow Bridgestone rider de Puniet and he celebrated a near-prefect lap by shaking his head and clenching his fist as he crossed the line.

Capirossi had good reason to celebrate, since that lap time was never seriously threatened in the final ten minutes - although reigning MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi gave his ever improving title hopes a further boost by jumping from fifth to second, 0.267secs from Loris, on his last lap.

The Yamaha star's late burst pushed another Italian, Fortuna Honda's Marco Melandri, back to third and knocked top home rider Shinya Nakano, of Kawasaki, back to the head of the second row on a day when four different manufacturers - and two equally split tyre companies - claimed the first four places.

Capirossi's factory Ducati team-mate Sete Gibernau was his team-mate's closest competitor as the closing stages began, but slipped back to fifth at the flag while Melandri's troubled team-mate Toni Elias added to championship leader Nicky Hayden's pain by bumping him back to row three.

The American, who signed a new two-year deal with Repsol Honda on Friday evening, was at the tail end of the top ten for much of the hour before once again jumping forward - relative to the competition - on qualifying tyres. Nicky, who takes a 21 point lead over Rossi into Sunday's race, was never a front row contender but sat fifth with two minutes remaining before losing two positions in the final stages.

de Puniet was eventually shuffled back to a praiseworthy eighth, ahead of Hayden's team-mate Dani Pedrosa, while Colin Edwards was unable to replicate his top five free practice pace was a disappointing tenth.

Wild-card Kousuke Akiyoshi caused a stir by claiming fifth mid-session and went on to finish an impressive debut MotoGP qualifying as the top Suzuki rider in 12th, just ahead of John Hopkins - whose hopes were sunk by a heavy fall with eleven minutes to go.

Despite predictions to the contrary, the weather remained dry throughout Saturday, although some still fear that the tail end of a typhoon could yet strike.

Qualifying:

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