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Ducati L&M rider Ben Bostrom powered to his second pole position of the year in glorious conditions at Laguna Seca Raceway as the Californian continued his superb recent form on his home circuit.

Ben had provisional pole after the two qualifying sessions and was last out in Superpole to see off the challenge of Neil Hodgson (Ducati GSE), Troy Corser (Aprilia) and his ‘wild-card’ younger brother Eric Bostrom (Kawasaki) to take pole position for tomorrow’s two races with a time of 1m25.705.

"It’s going to be tough tomorrow because the four guys on the front row of the grid all want to win", declared Bostrom. "I really enjoyed sliding the back of the bike around and after I was up on the first split on my Superpole lap I burnt the tyre up a bit in the second half to go even quicker. On every lap I see an American flag at the top of the Corkscrew and I use it as my braking point so tomorrow I have to win for all the US fans!"

Bostrom is joined on the front row by Britain's Neil Hodgson with former world champion Troy Corser third. Bostrom's younger brother Eric, a wild card rider on a Kawasaki, took fourth to complete the front row for the two 28-lap races, expected to be held in front of a record 100,000 crowd.

Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) was reasonably happy with his second row grid start despite slipping down from second quickest to fifth after the morning’s final qualifying session. “My Superpole lap was not so good because I made a couple of mistakes, but I’m happy to be on row 2”, said Bayliss. “I did 20 laps in the long-run this afternoon, setting a series of 1’26” times so that’s positive. I’d just feel a bit happier if I could get an extra half-a-second somewhere because tomorrow’s two races are going to be really difficult”.

Alongside Bayliss sits defending champion Colin Edwards after the Castrol Honda rider came within 0.1s of his best lap in qualifying. Edwards said: "I would have rather been on the front row but I had a good idea that that wasn't going to be possible. I gave that Superpole lap everything I had but in the end I had to settle with what I was capable of in this heat. I'm pretty happy with the race set-up and the Michelin tyres we have for tomorrow, I just need a good start and I can't afford to let anyone get away at the front."

Edwards and Bayliss are joined on the second row by young British Ducati rider James Toseland and veteran Suzuki rider Pier-Francesco Chili. Castrol Honda's Tady Okada qualified in ninth place, "I made a couple of mistakes on my Superpole lap and had the rear sliding around out of the last corner. After my lap I was watching the TV monitor hoping to stay on the second row but in the end I just got relegated to the third. "This circuit has taken some learning but I'm hopeful of a couple of good finishes tomorrow and want to try to get on the podium," commented Okada.

Wild-card Doug Chandler completes the top 10.

Aussie privateer Steve Martin is 15th on the grid and Peter Goddard put the new Benelli in 21st position.  Broc Parkes qualified 24th and Marty Craggill 26th.

SuperPole

1. Ben Bostrom, Ducati, 1m25.705s

2. Neil Hodgson, Ducati, 1m25.863s

3. Troy Corser, Aprilia, 1m25.866s

4. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki, 1m26.120s

5. Troy Bayliss, Ducati, 1m26.242s

6. Colin Edwards, Honda, 1m26.274s

7. James Toseland, Ducati, 1m26.762s

8. Pierfrancesco Chili, Suzuki, 1m26.818s

9. Tadayuki Okada, Honda, 1m27.045s

10. Doug Chandler, Kawasaki, 1m27.061s

11. Akira Yanagawa, Kawasaki, 1m27.203s

12. Regis Laconi, Aprilia, 1m27.281s

13. Stephane Chambon, Suzuki, 1m27.400s

14. Ruben Xaus, Ducati, 1m27.574s

15. Steve Martin, Ducati, 1m27.591s

16. Gregorio Lavilla, Kawasaki, 1m27.766s

Riders who did not make the SuperPole cut off and how they will sit on the grid
17 Robert Ulm Ducati
18 Mauro Sanchini Ducati
19 Marco Borciani Ducati
20 Lucio Pedercini Ducati
21 Peter Goddard Benelli
22 Giovanni Bussei Ducati
23 Michele Malatesta Kawasaki
24 Broc Parkes Ducati
25 Bertrand Stey Honda
26 Martin Craggill Ducati
27 Jiri Mrkyvka Ducati
28 Ferdinando Di Maso Kawasaki
29 Javier Rodriguez Honda