After the first two splits it appeared that Neil Hodgson (HM Plant) the provisional pole sitter, would take the Superpole win, but a slower final split time than Haga’s dropped him to a still-impressive second on his 2001-spec factory Ducati.

2001 Sugo Superpole winner Makoto Tamada (Cabin Honda) scored a third place on the front row for Sunday’s brace of Superbike races, after again losing his temporary advantage on the final split, exiting the uphill chicane.

Ben Bostrom’s L&M-sponsored factory Ducati powered its way to the final front row grid position after he set the fourth-fastest time, making the front row a clean sweep for Dunlop riders.

Colin Edwards’ mistake early in his Superpole lap, running wide on the entry to one corner, dropped him to the second row, much to the Texan’s disgust. The Castrol Honda rider was a good bet for the Superpole win itself after going second fastest in regulation qualifying, but now he must start the races from the second row.

Local Kawasaki wild card rider Akira Yanagawa set an excellent Superpole time to go sixth fastest, making his return to the Superbike fold a successful one, even before the start of race day.

Troy Bayliss made up one place on his pre-Superpole qualifying performance, running to seventh on his Infostrada Ducati, for a second row start.

The biggest improvement by any rider was performed by Eric Bostrom, another wild card rider on a Kawasaki. Only in the Superpole competition in the first place because of a wrist injury suffered by his fellow Kawasaki rider Hitoyasu Izutsu, Bostrom was first away and his time of 1’29"914 was the fastest right up until Akira Yanagawa came out for his session. Bostrom, the younger brother of Ben, leap-frogged two whole rows after his big push in Superpole.

Takeshi Tsujimura was another rider who improved greatly going from 15th to ninth, one place ahead of Wataru Yoshikawa, his local Yamaha team-mate.

James Toseland’s HM Plant Ducati took him to 11th overall edging out Ruben Xaus from the Infostrada Ducati team, a rider somewhat detuned after a practice crash.

Yuichi Takeda, riding the same machine that Makoto Tamada used to win the races last year, was 13th overall, with Chris Walker, Gregorio Lavilla and Lucio Pedercini finishing off the fourth row.

1. Noriyuki Haga - 1m28.806
2. Neil Hodgson - 1m28.823
3. Makoto Tamada - 1m28.861
4. Ben Bostrom - 1m29.216
5. Colin Edwards - 1m29.259
6. Akira Yanagawa - 1m29.545
7. Troy Bayliss - 1m29.626
8. Eric Bostrom - 1m29.914
9. Takeishi Tsujimura - 1m29.981
10. Wataru Yoshikawa - 1m30.188
11. James Toseland - 1m30.287
12. Ruben Xaus - 1m30.377
13. Yuichi Takeda - 1m30.745
14. Chris Walker - 1m30.796
15. Gregorio Lavilla - 1m30.918
16. Lucio Pedercini - 1m31.291

The following riders did not make the SuperPole cut-off

17. Borja - 1m30.593
18. Borciani - 1m30.762
19. Heckles - 1m31.620
20. Nakamura - 1m31.830 (Time from 1st session)
21. Antonello - 1m32.012
22. Martin - 1m32.117 (Time from 1st session)
23. Clementi - 1m32.190
24. Parkes - 1m32.226
25. Sanchini - 1m32.573 (Time from 1st session)

NB:  Hitoyasu qualified for SuperPole but highsided during qualifying and as a result has to miss this weekend's round with a fractured left radius.  Organisers then promoted Eric Bostrom from his 17th position on the time sheets to 16th which enabled him to run SuperPole.  The American took full advantage during SuperPole and moved himself up to the 2nd row.