Throughout the weekend Troy and the team were continuing their understanding of their Pirelli tyres and trying to find a good set-up for the bike. At the moment, Troy can get good grip from the tyre, but at the expense of chattering.

Or by choosing a different tyre he can get rid of the chatter, but then loses grip. So, at the moment, any solution will have to be a compromise - and that is understandably a bit frustrating for the former World Superbike Champion.

In Superpole today, Troy went out on a bike, with an engine that was new and had only done a lap or two and going into turn one on his 'hot lap' the clutch didn't work in the same way as the bike he had been riding before.

The half a second or so that he lost then and there was enough to destroy any chance of a good time and he finished twelfth quickest instead.

Factory Ducati rider Regis Laconi took pole position today with a lap of 1:35.935, with his team mate James Toseland second. The surprise of the day was Chris Vermeulen third quickest on the new 2004 Honda CBR1000RR, ahead of Leon Haslam (Ducati).

Troy - 12th, 1m37.667 - "Well I guess you could say that Superpole was a bit frustrating and disappointing. I had to conserve the new engine, so that's why I only did a couple of laps on it. But of course, a couple of laps isn't really enough to feel what's going on properly and when I went into turn one, the clutch on it felt different to my other bike and it was enough to cause me to lose a bit of time. That half second or so pushed me way down the order, because without that problem I feel I could've been on the second row for sure.

"At the moment we're having to make a compromise between grip and chatter. If we go for good grip the bike chatters, if we get rid of the chatter by using a different tyre, we find that tyre doesn't give as good grip! It's just a bit frustrating for us at the moment, because I guess we feel that the twins have had more tyre development done then we have had.

"I hope the situation is going to improve soon, but Pirelli have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time in which to do it. Tomorrow I definitely need a pair of good starts if I am to have any chance of a good result - but I'll be going for it for sure.

"Wish me luck!"