Yamaha Motor Italia riders Andrew Pitt and Noriyuki Haga showed true grit to post second and third row starts in today's grid deciding superpole session at Monza.

Pitt will start tomorrow's two 18-lap places from sixth on the grid, holding his position from the two combined qualifying sessions. The Australian made good progress throughout the day, slicing almost 1.4 seconds from his best time on Friday. The 29-year-old, whose parents have travelled over from Australia to watch him race this weekend, also demonstrated the pace of the rapidly improving Yamaha by taking his YZF-R1 through the speed trap at a mind boggling 310kph during the afternoon practice session - the fastest of the weekend.

Superpole proved to be a test of team-mate Haga's resolve as he fought injury to post his fastest lap of the weekend and move up to 11th on the grid, an improvement of one place on his pre-superpole position. The Japanese ace had been involved in a nasty tangle with Yamaha Motor France rider Sèbastien Gimbert in the preceding free practice session. Haga sustained injuries to his left hand and upper arm and although initial tests show no broken bones, Nitro Nori was clearly in pain as he mounted his spare YZF-R1 for his flying lap. Despite riding a machine running different specification suspension to his preferred machine, Haga's 1:49.279 lap time was his best of the weekend.

Yamaha Motor France rider Norick Abe will start his first race at the historic Monza circuit from 14th on the grid after improving his Friday time by almost two seconds. The Japanese rider was once again the most active rider on the track, clocking up 50 laps of the 5.7km circuit over the two one hour qualifying sessions. Team-mate Gimbert was unhurt in the incident with Haga, although he too was forced to use his spare bike in superpole. The Frenchman was understandably below par in superpole and ended the day qualifying in 16th position.

Pole position for tomorrow's races goes to Haga's friend and birthday boy Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki), whose 1:47.439 lap time narrowly edged out team-mate and championship leader Troy Corser. Règis Laconi (Ducati) and Karl Muggeridge (Honda) complete the front row.

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) - "Sixth is good but I'm still a bit disappointed not to have done my best lap of the weekend in superpole. I know that I can go faster and I think that really I took it a bit to carefully, but we're ready for the races and that's the main thing. We should be in pretty good shape tomorrow: we've found a good set-up and we've been able to improve the stability under braking from yesterday. Our top speed has been good too and this is obviously very important around here."

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) - "Superpole was difficult as I had to use my spare bike and I this had different settings to the one I used most of the weekend. It's ok that I did not lose any places in superpole but I think that without injury and on my other bike I could have made the second row. My hand is hurting and also I do not have much feeling in the top of my arm. The doctor took some X-rays and it looks like a T-bone steak - but no broken bones! For the race I hope to get a good start. If I can get away well then I am sure we can get a good result."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia) - "I have a positive feeling for the race tomorrow. Every race we make a small improvement and that has continued here. We worked hard to improve the top speed and although we expected some gains we did not expect quite such big improvements. Tomorrow it is very important to make a good start and be involved with the train for the lead. If our riders can get away at the front then I am confident that we can have a good result. Noriyuki did a good job today and we hope that the injuries cause him no problems tomorrow. I am not so worried about the hand, but maybe if the feeling is not there in his upper arm then this could cause him some problems changing direction through the high speed corners. Andrew again gives us a good feeling and tomorrow I think that he is able to make some more improvement."

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) - "Today I was able to learn more about the circuit and improve my position. So far every circuit we have raced at is also in MotoGP, so this is the first superbike race where I have also had to learn the circuit. Monza looks very simple but actually it is not so easy to learn, so I am happy with the improvement we made."

Sèbastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) - "This is my first time at Monza and I have made improvements in every session - until superpole. I had to ride my spare bike after the crash with Haga. There was a misunderstanding and we touched on the entry of the corner. I am ok and I hope Noriyuki is too. For the race we are feeling ok but will just have to see."

Yamaha Motor Germany's world supersport riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes will start tomorrow's Monza race from fifth and 10th place respectively after failing to improve on their Friday times during today's 45-minute final session.

Conditions remained sunny and warm throughout the day, allowing the Australian riders to spend the majority of the session working on machine set-up. Both pitted for fresh tyres in the closing minutes but were unable to take advantage of their fresh rubber due to heavy traffic, meaning that their fastest times from Friday (1:53.092 for Curtain and 1:54.218 for Parkes) determined their final grid position.

Despite being marginally slower than yesterday, both riders were able to set consistent lap times and know that they can further improve their set-up for tomorrow's race.

Curtain, third in the overnight standings, was indeed on the front row until final few minutes of the frantic session. Friday's fastest rider, Frenchman Sèbastien Charpentier (Honda), retained his pole position after improving to a 1:51.730 on the final lap. His team-mate Katsuaki Fujiwara lines up alongside him, with Italians Gianluca Nannelli (Ducati) and Michel Fabrizio (Honda) completing the front row.

Kevin Curtain - "I'm riding as hard as I can and I'm able to do consistent 53s, but I just couldn't break into the 52s. We've got too much weight transferring to the front under heavy braking and that's causing the back end too move about under braking. At least we know what the problem is and that's why I'm confident that we can find a solution for the race. It's a little disappointing to miss out on the front row. The guys who moved ahead of me were all riding in a group, while I was unfortunate to get held up a bit at the end."

Broc Parkes - "Last night I felt that we could get onto the front row so it's a little disappointing to be starting from 10th. Tomorrow we will try some things in the warm-up. Like Kevin, I am sure that we can improve the set-up and make up some places in the race."