Superpole Qualifying: Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki rider Troy Corser proved peerless once more adding Superpole to his fastest times from all regulation qualifying sessions. The championship leader set a Superpole best of 1’35.954, 0.449 ahead of second best rider over a single lap, Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda). It was Corser’s first Superpole win of the year, the 31st of his long career.

Top Ducati: Regis Laconi (Ducati Xerox) continued his good form in qualifying into Superpole, going third fastest overall and starting from the front row of the grid. His experience was a marked contrast to the woes suffered by his team-mate, James Toseland (Ducati Xerox) who failed to make the Superpole cut by fully seven places. The front row will be completed by rookie star Max Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda), replicating his top-class performance in regulation qualifying. The 22-year-old German once more outperformed his team-mate, Pierfrancesco Chili, who qualified 12th, despite his recent collarbone surgery.

Second Row Rowdies: Andrew Pitt once more installed himself as the best Yamaha prospect, running his Yamaha Motor Italia machine into fifth place on the grid, ahead of his fellow Aussie Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda). Chris Walker once more flew the Kawasaki PSG-1 standard high in qualifying, following up his fourth fastest time in regulation with a seventh fastest time in Superpole. His was the top ZX-10 on show. He also made it five different marques in the top seven places, proof positive of the competitiveness of the new SBK formula.
Last rider on row two proved to be Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) once more putting in an impressive result in what is his rookie SBK season.

Row Three: Second in the championship overall at this stage, Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki) was only ninth fastest, 1.2 seconds away from the Superpole win. He nonetheless took a small victory over his fellow Japanese Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia), who was one place behind, finishing off the top ten. First wildcard out the pack was Davide the Checa, the World Endurance ace putting smiles on the faces of his GMT94 Yamaha squad by following up Superpole qualification with a third row start in 11th. Chili rounded out row three in 12th.

Fourth Row: First non-factory Ducati belonged to Lorenzo Lanzi (SC Ducati 999RS) who headed up final Superpole qualifier Steve Martin (Petronas FP-1), as the Aussie improved to 14th grid position, from 16th in regulation. Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France). In a superbly close Superpole, all top 15 riders were within 1.6 seconds of each other. The exception was Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda KOJI) who experienced technical difficulties with the front brake in his fast lap
and was not credited with a time.

Regulation Pre Superpole Qualifying: The final one hour regulation qualifying session, which determined who went forward to Superpole, and all grid positions from 17th back, was tortuous for some riders, most notably World Champion James Toseland. In a field of 33, he qualified 23rd, thanks to his best time from Friday, 1’37.648. Trouble with the front end of his machine as the seconds of the final session ticked away prevented him from making one last ditch qualifying attempt. Garry McCoy (Petronas FP-1) was also out of the Superpole mix, 18th on his three-cylinder machine. To the surprise of many onlookers, Spanish Formula Extreme expert Jose Luis Cardoso (DFX Extreme Yamaha) just missed Superpole, going 17th. Local hero Fonsi Nieto (SC Caracchi Ducati) was 24th, the last rider on the sixth row of the grid. For the first time this year, Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda KOJI) secured his Superpole start.

Supersport: Winston Ten Kate Honda pilot Sebastien Charpentier soared over the opposition once more, taking pole for the third time this season. His best lap of 1’38.351 was the mark he set on Friday, with is own team-mate Katsuaki Fujiwara the closest challenger to him, despite a crash in the middle of the final timed session.

Former World Champion Fabien Foret (Team Italia Megabike Honda) scored third place, with the top Yamaha rider once more proving to be quick Aussie Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany), fourth.

Familiar names packed out the top echelons, with Michel Fabrizio (Team Italia Megabike Honda) and Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) fifth and sixth. Wild card man Victor Carrasco (La Glisse Yamaha) added some local flavour, finishing seventh quickest.

Raceday itself gets underway on Sunday 24th April, with two Superbike races straddling the Supersport event.