Dani Pedrosa earned respectable 4th grid position, despite riding at Laguna Seca for the first time. John Hopkins was second Suzuki this time in 5th place, in front of Nicky Hayden, who is still not satisfied with setup for his home grand prix.

Casey Stoner was on the top of time sheets in opening minutes of the session, but at the end he qualified as 7th. Shinya Nakano edged Marco Melandri for 8th place, with Valentino Rossi completing top 10 qualifiers for US Grand Prix.

Full qualifying results - Laguna Seca

INTERVIEWS AFTER QUALIFYING

Chris Vermeulen, pole position
For a qualifying session it couldn’t have gone better. We’re in pole position! I did three fast laps at almost identical times and nobody else was close for a while. It got a bit nearer at the end and perhaps a bit too close for comfort. My whole team, Bridgestone, Ohlins and everybody else has been working really really hard. All credit to all my guys as I just had to ride the bike. The track conditions were difficult this afternoon because it was so hot and that made it slippery. The track was actually starting to tear up in places and you could see the bitumen coming away from the concrete underneath. Tomorrow will be hard with this heat over 32-laps, we have a good set-up and think we have the tyres for the job - we hope it is all going to work for us.

Colin Edwards, 2nd
It was seriously hot out there!  I’m really happy with my starting position, it means a lot to me to be able to start from the front for my home race. We might still try some changes in the morning warm-up, just to refine the setting a bit. Our race pace is great until the corkscrew, but after that things aren’t so good. The second half of the lap really doesn’t feel great, although maybe it’s not as bad as it feels.  It’s just so bumpy and it’s hard to ride in a good rhythm. Anyway, we’re starting at the front and I’m going to give it all I’ve got. I’ve got a special livery tomorrow on my bike to celebrate being back here in America and as a bit of a thank you to Yamaha US for all the work they’ve done to help improve the safety of the track. It’s a stars and stripes theme so let’s hope it’s lucky for me!

Kenny Roberts Jr, 3rd
I feel a heck of a lot better on race tyres, because I know were all on the same stuff. Its hard in the qualifying session to know whos on what at what time and what fuel levels and stuff. As far as race set-up goes, well be alright. And the most important thing is starting from the front row. On the qualifiers I struggled. I just struggled mentally. I was overriding it.

Dani Pedrosa, 4th 
I think today went ok and my position is quite good, though the conditions were strange this afternoon. We couldn’t really work on choosing a race tyre as usual this afternoon because it was so slippery and there was something strange about the grip – perhaps because it was so hot. The lap times were much slower. Even with the qualifying tyre I couldn’t improve on this morning’s time. However, I think the position is quite good, so let’s see if I can get a great start because until this afternoon everything was fine. In free practice one, two and three everything was just about perfect.

John Hopkins, 5th
Basically we were just finding the best set-up that we could today. Everything has just got better and we have taken a big step forward today. We have qualified on the first two rows which is where you need to be here, I would have liked to have been on the front with Chris and congratulations to him for his pole. We will hope to get a good start and be right there because our race pace is looking good. We have a couple of things to try in warm-up and if they don’t work then we have a good set-up anyway. But whatever, come tomorrow afternoon we are going to be ready!

Nicky Hayden, 6th
I’d have liked to have been on the front row for sure and my split times were quite good this afternoon. My ideal time had me in second place, but I just didn’t put one clean lap together and on my last lap I had to pass someone. The bottom line is that I’ve struggled a little bit all weekend and I’m not that comfortable in some parts of the track. I can get one or two quick laps here or there, it’s the consistency I’m missing at the moment. But tomorrow’s when it counts and I’m excited about the race. If we can make a few adjustments overnight we’ll come in here ready and I’ll be looking to get an awesome start and just give it all I’ve got. It’s going to be a tough one no doubt, but I feel like I’m a stronger rider than last year so I’m looking forward to it.

Casey Stoner, 7th
Not much to say really. I put in some really good laps on race tyres. But when I put in the qualifying tyres everything changed and Im not too happy running qualifiers. We tried a few combinations but I was not comfortable, like a lot of riders here. The engine is always good so I have no problems there. We just have to sort out the chassis to cope with the bumps round this place. But we have a pretty good idea of what we need to do.

Shinya Nakano, 8th
This afternoon we switched to a different profile rear tyre from Bridgestone, and this definitely made an improvement in how the bike turns into the corners. This was a positive step, and the bike feels a lot better, but we still haven't found the perfect set-up for this track yet. Also, I think we were helped by the fact that, while we made an improvement, the leading riders were a little bit slower on race tyres this afternoon than they were this morning, probably because of the increase in track temperature. To be honest, I was a little disappointed with qualifying. I expected more, and Chris Vermeulen has certainly shown that the qualifying tyres from Bridgestone were up to the job, so it's a little disappointing to find myself only on the third row of the grid. For sure, tomorrow's race will be hard, especially in this heat, but I will be pushing hard to finish as high as possible, in order to safeguard my championship position ahead of the summer break.

Marco Melandri, 9th
This morning we worked a lot on the suspension and it was quite good and I felt comfortable on the bike. But in the qualifying session I got something in my eyes that made them water and I had problems seeing where I was going. From that moment on everything seemed to go wrong and the settings we used did not feel good at all. We will go back to the set up we had this morning and I am confident that they will work in the race.

Valentino Rossi, 10th
This year the practices have been so hard from me and every time we have to do a lot of work. This morning we tried some new things and the bike was better, and faster. I am quite worried because it’s so hard to overtake here, even harder than Sachsenring. There are only a few places - after turn one in the first braking, turn 5, and the last corner.  Maybe the corkscrew, but I think this is an American secret - Colin passed me here last year but it’s hard for me to understand how! Anyway from the telemetry I can see we’re faster through this section than last year so maybe it’s okay this time. I need to find the lines with the fewest bumps in order to understand where I can pass people. It’s very hard in this heat and 33 laps will be very difficult.  We need to find the best setting to allow me to be fast with the least energy from me! I know Hayden is fast, of course I want to finish in front of him, but as long as I am close to him with not too many points between us, this is the most important thing. We have some new things to try in the morning and we have to hope that we can make a big improvement on Sunday to the setting, like in Sachsenring.