Pole position for tomorrow's two 25-lap WSBK races will go to Japan's Noriyuki Haga (Playstation 2 Aprilia) who set the fastest time in the one-lap Superpole session with a 1-min 28.806-sec lap of the 3.737km circuit.

Bayliss' time of 1:29.626 was quicker than the times that he set in either of the two earlier qualifying sessions and has given him additional confidence going into tomorrow's races.

"My Superpole lap wasn't really messy, but it wasn't that clean either," said Bayliss. "But I'm happy with that and with the progress we have made with setting the bike up over the weekend. In a way I'm also happy that Colin (Edwards) will be on the second row with me. He will definitely be tough to beat, so I'll be out to make sure that I get two good starts and at least get ahead of him early in the races."

"As for tomorrow's races, I expect them both to be long and very hard," Bayliss, added. "We tried a few more changes in the free practice session before Superpole and I was able to do a time on my race tyre similar to the one that I set in Superpole. We haven't made any drastic changes to the bike, just a lot of little ones and they are working. We still have few things that I want to try during the morning warm up, so we'll see how we go from there."

After being the fastest rider at the completion of regulation qualifying, Brit Neil Hodgson (HM Plant Ducati) had to settle for second on the grid after setting a time of 1:28.823. He was followed by last year's double race winner, Makoto Tamada (Cabin Honda) who was the last rider to dip into the 1:28 bracket, recording a 1:28.861. Completing the front row of the grid is American Ben Bostrom (L&M Ducati, 1:29.216).

Row two will be headed former World Champion Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda, 1:29.259), followed by former WSBK regular Akira Yanagawa (Kawasaki Racing, 1:29.545). Bayliss takes up seventh on the grid and will have Eric Bostrom (Kawasaki Racing, 1:29.914) alongside him in eighth.

Heading into tomorrow's round, Bayliss holds a 45-point lead over Edwards by virtue of his six race-winning streak at the start of the season. Bayliss' teammate Ruben Xaus lies third in the championship followed by Bostrom and Hodgson and Haga.
 

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.