For the first Friday afternoon in ages, Troy was happy with how his opening day had gone. He ended the day just behind series leader, and fellow countryman, Troy Bayliss (Ducati), but that only happened in the closing stages of the qualifying session this afternoon. Up until then Troy had been the quickest rider round the 4.265 kilometre circuit. Troy’s team mate Yukio Kagayama finished third quickest, with Andrew Pitt (Yamaha) completing the provisional front row.

TROY - 2nd, 1:38.550
I’m happy today - and it’s been a long time since I said that on a Friday afternoon. No real problems at all today and I felt that the bike was working well and I was enjoying riding it. The morning was not as good as the afternoon, when it was hotter and the grip level improved. We made some changes to the gearing and it was good in some parts of the track and not so good in other parts of the track. Now we’ll try some different gearbox internals and see if we can improve further.
I was the fastest until the end of the session, but then I think that Bayliss stuck in a softer tyre right at the end and managed to go quicker. This place is a bit of a one-line track, so a front row grid place is vital. But I’ll be going all-out for Superpole - as it’s about time I won another watch!