/world sport
MOTEGI, Japan -- Dani Pedrosa looks the man to beat in the Japanese MotoGP at Motegi after the Spaniard put his Honda on pole for Sunday's potentially decisive race.
Pedrosa celebrated signing his new Honda contract by taking pole position for the Japan MotoGP.
Spaniard Pedrosa, who penned a new two-year contract with Honda earlier in the day, clocked one minute 45.86 seconds on his penultimate qualifying lap to push Yamaha's Valentino Rossi into second by 0.39 seconds.
Reigning world champion Nicky Hayden is a further 0.32 seconds adrift in third.
Rossi delayed Casey Stoner's march to the MotoGP title with victory in the previous round in Portugal and the Italian must finish ahead of the 21-year-old Australian in Japan to keep his hopes of an eighth world crown alive.
The Italian's hopes were given a substantial boost on Saturday as Stoner could only finish ninth in qualifying in one minute 47.12 seconds.
Stoner leads the standings by 76 points with three round remaining, while Rossi is chasing his first victory in Motegi since joining Yamaha. E-mail to a friend 
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