Yoshimura Suzuki's Toni Elias continued in his role of 2016 super spoiler, edging defending MotoAmerica Superbike champ Cameron Beaubier to steal pole at Laguna Seca by a meager 0.004 seconds.

The former Moto2 World Champion already boasts five wins in his maiden MotoAmerica season. The Spaniard has kept his championship aspirations alive, trailing Beaubier by just over one race (26 points), but likely needs a huge day on Sunday to head into the New Jersey season finale with a realistic chance at stealing the title.

Elias and Beaubier will be joined on the front row in Sunday's twin races by second Yosh pilot Roger Hayden. The Kentuckian was less than a quarter of a second off pole as the three created significant separation over Row 2.

Multi-time series king Josh Hayes looked to head the second row aboard his Monster Energy/Graves Yamaha R1 but was displaced to fifth as time expired by a resurgent Jake Gagne on the Broaster Chicken RoadRace Factory entry.

The two will be joined by TOBC's Danny Eslick, who ended the day as the top-qualifying Superstock 1000 runner.

Supersport/Superstock 600

JD Beach edged his Y.E.S./Graves/Yamaha teammate Garrett Gerloff for the Supersport pole. Beach's 1:26.810 proved 0.040 seconds better than Gerloff could manage. Gerloff still holds a 23-point advantage in the title chase, but Beach's four successive victories heading into Laguna Seca have certainly made things more interesting down the stretch.

The Yamaha title fighters will be joined on Row 1 by fleet Frenchman Valentin Debise, who qualified third on the M4 Sportbike TrackGear.com Suzuki 0.432 seconds back.

KTM RC 390 Cup

Aston Yates looked certain to take third place with just two corners remaining in the KTM RC 390 Cup race at Laguna Seca. However, successive mistakes by title leaders Brandon Paasch and Anthony Mazziotto III opened the door and Yates stormed through at the checkered flag.