Hayden leaves it late on Saturday morning

A last-gasp lap from Nicky Hayden put the Repsol Honda rider at the head of the Saturday morning form sheet, with his 1´30.558 turn of Phillip Island enough to usurp home hero Casey Stoner from the top spot by under a tenth of a second.

Hayden, the poleman in 2005 and 2006, improved considerably on his dry time from Friday, having also topped the table in the wet on the opening day. Stoner remains the fastest rider of the weekend to date with his scorching time from yesterday morning, but had a small crash on Saturday – a fate shared by fellow Ducati riders Marco Melandri, Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli, plus Suzuki´s Loris Capirossi.

Joining in the fun in the session was Jorge Lorenzo, placing third onboard the Fiat Yamaha, whilst Alex de Angelis repeated his impressive dry weather showing with fourth. Colin Edwards made it a 50/50 split between Michelin and Bridgestone riders in the top six, competed by new MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi.

James Toseland, Andrea Dovizioso, Shinya Nakano and 2007 poleman Dani Pedrosa completed the fastest ten in the session.