250cc championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama finally took his first pole position of the 2009 season in qualifying at Misano.
The Scot Honda rider produced a 1m38.867s lap right at the end of the session to beat Hector Barbera (Pepe World Aprilia) by just 0.008 second.
To make the result even sweeter for Aoyama, his main title rival Alvaro Bautista (Aspar Aprilia) struggled throughout the session and will line up only eighth on the grid, as the Spaniard continued his recent run of poor qualifying performances.
Reigning champion Marco Simoncelli, who is hunting for a third straight victory to continue his late charge back into title contention, was quickest for most of the session before Aoyama and Barbera pushed him back to third. Fellow home rider Mattia Pasini completed the front row.
Mike di Meglio was fifth quickest, ahead of Alex Debon, Hector Faubel and the frustrated Bautista.