REUTERS - MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi will chase his 100th grand prix victory from pole position at the Dutch TT race at Assen on Saturday.

The Italian Yamaha rider lapped with a best time of one minute 36.025 seconds to beat Spaniard Dani Pedrosa by less than a tenth of a second in Friday's qualifying.

"I'm so happy about the qualifying session. This morning we worked a lot on the bike and this afternoon we put it all together," the 30-year-old told the MotoGP website.

"I'm in good shape, just like my M1, and I just hope for good weather tomorrow," added Rossi, who won the Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona on June 14.

Honda's Pedrosa was 0.085 slower, with Rossi's team mate Jorge Lorenzo completing the front row.

After six of the season's 17 races, Rossi and Lorenzo have 106 points in a three-way tie at the top of the overall standings with Australian Ducati rider Casey Stoner, who qualified in fourth place.

In the 250cc category Spain's Hector Barbera took his second consecutive top spot, with a one minute 40.019 lap, just over  tenth of a second quicker than Japan's Hiroshi Aoyama and Spaniard Alvaro Bautista.

In the 125cc class, Germany's Sandro Cortese grabbed the first pole position of his career ahead of Spain's Julian Simon.