James Toseland continued his positive run of form this weekend at Assen as the 24-year-old Ducati Xerox Team rider clinched second place in Superpole for round 9 of the World Superbike Championship. Toseland will line up on a stellar front row of the grid, made up of four different manufacturers, behind poleman Chris Vermeulen (Honda), seven-tenths quicker than the rest of the field, but ahead of Troy Corser (Suzuki) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha).

Team-mate Régis Laconi saw his hopes of challenging for the runner-up slot in the championship take a dive as he misses this weekend's race due to injury after crashing in Friday first qualifying.

"It's been a great weekend so far for us" declared Toseland. "We got a good setting when we first went out on Friday morning and we've just kept it going. We had a good warm-up before Superpole and then I saw the time that Chris did and thought that it was going to be a tough one to beat. I took a few risks in the first few corners but I knew that if I kept everything smooth, the main thing was to be on the front row and so I'm happy to be second. Fair play to Chris for winning the watch for pole and commiserations to Régis who had a crash yesterday that put him out of this race".

30-year-old Laconi was high-sided from his Ducati 999 in the final part of Friday's first qualifying session. He suffered a deep gash in his right elbow, which had to have eight stitches put in by the Clinica Mobile, and a damaged tendon, both of which have severely hampered any arm movement. Laconi has already left the circuit for France, where doctors will verify the situation to see if he is in a position to race in next weekend's WSBK round at Lausitzring, Germany.

"Obviously I'm very disappointed but it was absolutely impossible for me to race here, and as soon as I move my arm the pain is terrible" declared Laconi on leaving the circuit. "I'm going to Marseilles to a specialist to see if it is possible to do something for the next race".