SHANGHAI, CHINA - American Colin Edwards snatched a surprise pole position on a Yamaha Tech at the China Moto Grand Prix here Saturday as he set a new record lap at the Shanghai circuit.

The 34-year-old Texan, still looking for his first win in MotoGP, put in a scorcher of a lap in the waning minutes of qualifying to clock one minute 58.139 beating Italian Valentino Rossi and defending champion Casey Stoner.

Rossi on a Fiat Yamaha and Stoner on a Ducati looked unbeateable for much of the hour-long qualifying session until Edwards turned up the heat, breaking Rossi's pole record set last year.