In the opening Supersport race, Matthew had to settle for third as Carrickfergus rider Alastair Seeley beat James Dickson who had his share of glory in the first Superbike race.

However third was good enough to give Percy the title.

This first Superbike race was a superb affair with James Dickson taking the win over Brian McCormack with series leader Michael Pearson completing the rostrum.

The second Superbike race was halted and put back in the programme.

This was a case of keeping the good wine to the last as Brian McCormack beat James Dickson and Michael Pearson who is still waiting to confirm his attack on the title.

The meeting began with a victory for Ballymoney's Paul Robinson in the 250GP class. Robinson controlled proceedings from the front as Kildare's Thomas Lawlor took second and Chris McAloran finished third.

In the second race, McAloran turned the tables on Robinson as David Craig took third.

Nigel Percy built on his Mondello treble foundation when he led the 125 race from start to finish to beat Paul Jordan and the experienced Mark Lunney.

Percy then repeated the dose with a win over Davey Lemon and Paul Jordan.

Completing the first set of races, Lee Hill from Ballyclare had his 11th win of the series in the lightweight Supersport 400 class in which he beat Michael McInley and Stephen McKeown.

Hill then made it a double when he beat Alan Brown and Darren Gilpin in the second race.

The second Supersport 600 race was possibly the best race of the day with Alastair Seeley repeating his victory over Dickson who tried every trick in the book to get past Seeley but was forced to settle for second.

RESULTS: 250GP Race 1: 1st P Robinson; 2nd T Lawlor; 3rd C McLoran.

Race 2: 1st McAloran; 2nd Robinson; 3rd D Craig.

Superbike Race 1: 1st J Dickson; 2nd B McCormick; 3rd M Pearson. Race 2 - 1st McCormick; 2nd Dickson; 3rd Pearson.

Lightweight 400 Race 1: 1st L Hill; 2nd M McKinley; 3rd S McKeown. Race 2: 1st Hill; 2nd A Brown; 3rd D Gilpin.

Supersport 600 Race 1: 1st A Seeley; 2nd J Dickson; 3rd M Percy. Race 2 - 1st Seeley; 2nd Dickson; 3rd G Robinson.

125GP Race 1: 1st N Percy; 2nd P Jordan; 3rd M Lunney. Race 2 - 1st N Percy; 2nd D Lemon; 3rd Jordan.

lCHAMPIONSHIP leader Casey Stoner broke the home crowd's hearts as he claimed a dramatic pole in Misano for today's MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix.

Local hero and championship rival Valentino Rossi had been fronting the grid on his Fiat Yamaha with one minute to go in qualifying but the Australian bettered his time by 0.176 seconds with his final lap.

It was Stoner's fourth consecutive pole as he looks to extend his 60-point lead over Rossi in the championship but the Ducati Marlboro rider is taking nothing for granted.

"We haven't turned all my poles so far this year into wins," he said.

"I'd like to think we could do that here but I think it's going to be a very hard race.

"We are pretty happy with the settings we have at the moment - we were fast this morning when we did race distance on our softest compound race tyres and everything is looking pretty good for the race.

"But we'll just have to wait and see, because I'm not really sure about everyone else's situation."

Rossi's second place was the first time he had achieved a front-row start for three races as he attempts to cut Stoner's lead at the top of the championship.

The Italian was roared on by thousands of fans at the newly-revamped Misano circuit.