His best lap of 1:41.321 was the fastest time set in either racing or testing at Kyalami, and gave him back-to-back Superpole wins after his success in Australia two weeks previously.

The Texan, third last away, made a mark that Troy Bayliss (Infostrada Ducati) and fastest qualifier from the regular sessions, Ben Bostrom (L&M Ducati), could not match.

Bayliss was second after Superpole, with Bostrom third, although even Bostrom was only 0.232 seconds slower than Edwards.

A much improved Noriyuki Haga (Playstation 2 Aprilia) took fourth and the last front row position for Sunday’s brace of 25 lap Superbike races, with a time of 1’41”625, riding hard on the brakes on one of his favourite circuits.

The first five were away and clear of the next competitors, with the fifth fastest man, Neil Hodgson (HM Plant Ducati) also on a 1’41 lap.

Hitoyasu Izutsu (Kawasaki Racing Team) put in a scorching lap compared to his previous best from regulation, to score a sixth place starting position, ahead of Pierfrancesco Chili (NCR Ducati) and Lucio Pedercini (Pedercini Ducati), who completed the second row.

Juan Borja (Spaziotel Ducati) and James Toseland (HM Plant Ducati) took ninth and tenth places, on their privately entered machines.

A hugely disappointing performance from Ruben Xaus (Ducati Infostrada) dropped him from the upper echelons of the earlier qualifiers to 11th and the third row, just ahead of factory Kawasaki rider Chris Walker.

The fourth row starting positions lined up in the order Marco Borciani, Gregorio Lavilla, Serafino Foti and Steve Martin, with the latter using all the track and more on his DFX Pirelli Ducati.

1. Edwards - 1m41.321
2. Bayliss - 1m41.412
3. Bostrom - 1m41.453
4. Haga - 1m41.625
5. Hodgson - 1m41.825
6. Izutsu - 1m42.453
7. Chili - 1m42.475
8. Pedercini - 1m42.547
9. Borja - 1m42.671
10. Toseland - 1m42.841
11. Xaus - 1m43.054
12. Walker - 1m43.853
13. Borciani - 1m43.994
14. Lavilla - 1m44.133
15. Foti - 1m44.395
16. Martin 1m44.966

The riders below did not make SuperPole and will start on the grid as follows

17. Parkes - 1m44.134
18. Antonello - 1m44.477
19. Sanchini - 1m44.697
20. Heckles - 1m45.870
21. Stey - 1m46.060
22. Mrkyvka - 1m47.687
23. Gyger - 1m49.067
24. Clementi - 1m49.170

WSBK SuperPole - SuperPole - Honda Report - Aprilia Report - Ducati Report - GSE Report - Suzuki Report - NCR Report

WSBK Friday Qualifying 1 - Honda Report - Aprilia Report - Ducati Report - NCR Report - GSE Report