The Cabin Honda team wild card rider powered his VTR1000 SP-2 around the 2.32-mile circuit in a time of 1m 28.658s, 0.9s inside Tady Okada's existing lap record. Tamada's team-mate for the weekend, Shinichi Ito was second fastest with Troy Corser, the first of the World Superbike regulars, in third.  

Corser - "I'm reasonably happy with how today went, because really all we were doing is working towards getting a good bike set-up. I wasn't chasing any lap times today, just trying out different suspension and tyres, so that we can make further progress tomorrow. We worked a lot on the front end and made the springs a bit stiffer and that seemed the way to go. The track feels a little bumpier then last year, so maybe that's why we are doing a bit more work on the suspension. One good thing about the 2001 Aprilia RSV is that the engine is quite a bit stronger, so the drag up the hill after the last chicane feels a bit easier this year. That always hurts bikes, but the 2001 bike pulls more strongly and it's not too bad coming up the hill now. We'll do some more work on bike set-up tomorrow morning and then see what happens in SuperPole. After Phillip Island last weekend, I'm looking forward to some good dry conditions and a couple of good races."

Another wild card, Tamaki Serizawa was fourth quickest on a Kawasaki with Spain's Gregorio Lavilla fifth and reigning world champion Colin Edwards sixth.  "At that rate it's looking like two easy wins for Tamada on Sunday! I've got a season to think about while Tamada hasn't had a race yet this year so he's keen to impress. I'm happy with what we're achieving and it's Sunday that counts. I'm working harder than I've worked all year to get the machine set-up right, this is the first track we've come to this year where we haven't tested so we always knew there would be a lot of work attached to this weekend. What we have found at least is that the pre-season Michelin test at Kyalami continues to help us at each round and Sugo is no different."

Joining Lavilla and Edwards on the provisional second row is seventh-placed Wataru Yoshikawa with Akira Ryo - a Sugo race winner in 1999 - eighth as hard-charging wild card riders filled half of the top 10 places. The last non-Japanese rider to win a World Superbike race at Sugo was Carl Fogarty in 1995.

British Ducati rider Neil Hodgson recorded the ninth fastest lap.  “The bike is working brilliantly, I’m feeling really comfortable on the Sugo circuit. We are going to test a couple of tyre combinations tomorrow, but so far the GSE Ducati is doing everything I want it to do.  The Japanese contingent is always very strong here and there are a lot of local riders who will do really well. However, all the championship contenders are in the same boat. My aim is to secure two strong finishes, to ensure that I move up the points table before we return to Europe.”

Ben Bostrom (Ducati L&M) was 11th quickest in Friday qualifying with a time of 1m30.224s but the 26 year-old Californian said that progress was difficult around the 3.737 km circuit. "We struggled to find a good race set-up today and I really had trouble getting the bike round the track, as the bike was getting better throughout the session, I seemed to get worse! I plan to ride a lot better tomorrow to improve my time. The track is good and I like it but at the moment I'm not putting it all together and I should be in the mid-29s".

Castrol Honda's Tady Okada was 12th quickest and complaining of set-up problems with his machine. "I haven't got a good feel from the machine all day. The balance of the machine needs some work and not having the set-up somewhere close to what we want has left us with a lot of work to do with tyre testing tomorrow. I'm not too worried. I know we have enough options to get the machine working well around here and we'll put the effort in tonight and hopefully tomorrow morning's qualifying will see a big improvement."

Championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) set a time of 1m30.790s but was only 15th quickest after difficulty getting the right set-up on his 996R Factory bike and the 32 year-old Australian only succeeded in posting a respectable time in the final few minutes of the one-hour session. "Today's been a bit of a struggle although it was coming better towards the end, I made a little mistake in the chicane and without that I would have been further up the timesheets. Despite my position, I'm looking forward to tomorrow and I'm sure the changes we are going to make will do the trick for qualifying and SuperPole".

Ducati Infostrada team-mate Ruben Xaus was two places behind Bayliss in 17th position but was fairly happy with his time of 1m31.122s on the 23 year-old Spanish youngster's first experience on a Superbike at the circuit. "This is the first time I have ridden a Superbike here at Sugo, and towards the end of the session I was beginning to understand how to take the final part of the circuit with the chicane, which is vitally important if you want to set a good time. I will try and continue the same way tomorrow, enjoying myself on the bike and setting the fastest time possible. Without the Japanese riders, I would have been tenth, which is not so bad".

Regis Laconi was well behind his team-mate to be only 18th quickest - "I immediately try to well understand the track, which is not so fast and with wide turns, nearly endless,  I'm working hard to improve the bike stability keeping the best line into the long corners. You have also to be efficient in the fast direction change as well as the chicane before the start- finish straight. I'm satisfied, I will try to improve tomorrow."

Qualifying practice: 
1. M Tamada (Honda) 1:28.658; 
2. S Ito (Honda) 1:29.650; 
3. T Corser (Aprilia) 1:29.666; 
4. T Serizawa (Kawasaki) 1:29.738;
5. G Lavilla (Kawasaki) 1:29.935; 
6. C Edwards (Honda) 1:30.035; 
7. W Yoshikawa (Yamaha) 1:30.126; 
8. A Ryo (Suzuki) 1:30.151; 
9. N Hodgson (GSE Racing Ducati) 1:30.164; 
10. P Chili (Suzuki) 1:30.176;