Hayden claimed his third pole of the season on his 29th lap of the official qualifying session, and even seven-time GP champion Valentino Rossi couldn't beat the American's pole time of 1:29.337.

Nicky's two previous pole's this season came at Laguna Seca and at the Sachsenring, in Germany.

Rossi finished on the middle of the front row just 0.106 seconds back of the Repsol Honda star, with Sete Gibernau finishing the hour in third place, the Movistar rider 0.392 in arrears of the US GP winner.

Max Biaggi and Shinya Nakano took turns to set the early pace before Carlos Checa and Valentino Rossi took control half way through the session.

After 27 minutes, Checa led the pack with a time of 1:30.165, and the Spaniard then eclipsed that time to remain on the provisional pole with 15 minutes to run, Checa the first man to record a 1 minute 29 second lap around Phillip Island.

Rossi was close, Gibernau threatened, but it was Hayden who stole the show with under two minutes remaining with a blistering circulation of the 2.764-mile circuit to take the pole and set a new outright lap record by 0.731 seconds.

Nicky commented, "Pole's pretty cool. The Michelin qualifiers today were really good. I used three sets and they seemed to get better and better. There are times round here when you really shouldn't be opening the gas but the tyres just gripped - amazing."

"We're struggling a little on race pace to be honest so we're definitely going to have to dig in tomorrow - but I'll enjoy the pole now."

Checa, celebrating his 33rd birthday, was demoted in the final moments and will head row two, the first of the Bridgestone runners. Colin Edwards will start from fifth on the factory Yamaha YZR-M1 with Max Biaggi completing the top six.

The third row sees an impressive Toni Elias head Marco Melandri and Makoto Tamada, the young Spanish Fortuna man seeing his stock rising at a crucial time of the season -- contract time!!

Loris Capirossi will miss the Turkish Grand Prix following his enormous accident on Friday. The Italian remains in hospital with a drain in his lungs and cannot fly home at present because of the injury.

The 27-lap Australian GP will get under way at 2.30pm, local time tomorrow (Sunday), following the morning warm-up which starts at 9.45am.

So, can Nick pull it off and show Rossi the way in the race at the stunning Phillip Island circuit, and take his second victory of the year?

Stay locked to 'Soup for the answer.

Not Qualified: Franco Battaini - Blata WCM (107% rule).

Dry Session:

Relevant Times:

2004 Pole Position: Sete Gibernau - Telefonica Movistar Honda - 1:30.122

2004 Fastest Race Lap: Loris Capirossi - Ducati Marlboro - 1:31.102

2005 FP3: Valentino Rossi - Gauloises Yamaha - 1:30.046

Press releases to follow.