Rossi leads Camel qualifying sweep, Hayden third.

Valentino Rossi took his fourth pole position of the 2006 MotoGP season by leading a Camel Yamaha one-two at Estoril on Saturday, but title rival Nicky Hayden limited the damage with third position.

Honda LCR's Casey Stoner, fastest on Friday, dominated the first 45 minutes of the hour - before Hayden, second to Stoner on Friday and fastest of all in Saturday morning's final free practice, hit the top for the first time.

Reigning champion Rossi, who will start Sunday's Portuguese Grand Prix - the penultimate round of the 2006 championship - 12 points behind Hayden, was third fastest at that stage, but made his Estoril pole debut as the final ten minutes began.

Hayden's Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa then stepped forward to take the position from him - only for the #46 to retaliate with a 0.369secs advantage over the rookie Spaniard as the closing minutes began.

Meanwhile, Hayden looked in trouble - the Kentuckian had slipped all the way back to seventh position after a trip through the gravel, but dug deep on his very last lap and - with his rear wheel smoking and front wheel in the air - propelled his factory RCV into second position.

Team-mate Pedrosa was looking more than capable of retaking the middle front-row slot - and perhaps pole - until he was severely hampered by a slow-moving Stoner, who had failed to repeat his race pace on the one lap qualifiers. The usually stoic Pedrosa was livid at losing his last chance for pole, but Stoner sportingly calmed any rift by visiting the Repsol Honda pits to personally apologise afterwards.

But the block ultimately cost Pedrosa a front row start, since Rossi's team-mate Colin Edwards, a 'quiet' top five for much of the session, suddenly threw his M1 into second position - 0.278secs behind The Doctor - to nudge countryman Hayden to the outside of the front row. Pedrosa will start Sunday's race from fourth with Stoner fifth.

Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins turned around a tough weekend so far for Bridgestone with a decent sixth, in front of Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano and the top Ducati of Sete Gibernau. Carlos Checa was an excellent ninth for Tech 3 Yamaha and Dunlop, while triple 2006 race winner Loris Capirossi was a subdued tenth. Another Italian in trouble was Marco Melandri, who injured his left knee on Friday afternoon and managed just fifteenth this afternoon.

Sunday's 20 rider grid will be completed by the new Ilmor SRT entry ridden by Garry McCoy. The Australian lost ground to the 990cc competition on qualifying tyres - slipping from around four-seconds from the top in free practice to 5.060secs on qualifying tyres - but the 800cc X3 continues to prove its potential for the 2007 championship.

Qualifying:

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