BAYLISS LEADS FRONT ROW WITH HIS MAIN CHALLENGERS ALONGSIDE Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) will start the 24-lap Superbike races at Eurospeedway Lausitz from a perfect pole position, thanks to a best time of 1'37.923 in this specialised single lap contest to determine the allocation of the top 16 grid spots. He had earlier set a new track best in qualifying (1'37.623) and as last rider away in Superpole, knew exactly what was required to take his fourth Superpole win of 2006, and his 11th career Superpole. Right behind Bayliss follow the two riders closest to him in the overall championship chase - Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) in second grid slot, and James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) third, and recovering well from a disappointing tenth in regulation qualifying. Haga had to ride in Superpole with painful wrists, which he jarred heavily saving an imminent high side in the final session before Superpole. The last man on the front row proved to be Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia), who continues to impress at the front in the second half of the season.

LANZI RESURGENT ON THE SCENE OF HIS FIRST TRIUMPH Bayliss' team-mate, Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) enjoyed the return to the circuit on which he won his first ever World Superbike race, and was fifth after Superpole, giving him a valuable jump on the riders behind. With such a tight first section of corners to deal with in race conditions, Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) had hoped to be on the front row, but a smooth Superpole lap proved to be not as fast as his main rivals' and he scored sixth grid placing. Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda) was another who seemed to do little wrong in his Superpole lap, but lost ground to finish only seventh. Corser's team-mate Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) went eighth after being faster than anyone else in the afternoon's final untimed practice session.

MUGGERIDGE HEADS UP ROW THREE AFTER DISAPPOINTING SUPERPOLE Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) made a small error in the first split of his Superpole lap and thus dropped time compared to qualifying and now starts ninth on the Lausitz grid. A Superhuman effort from Steve Martin (Petronas FP-1) saw him end his day of pre-race competition in tenth place, another positive step forward for the three-cylinder rider as the season draws to a close. PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse riders Fonsi Nieto and Regis Laconi round out the third row.

NEUKIRCHNER MAKES SUPERPOLE AND THEN PUTS IN AN IMPRESSIVE LAP Local rider Max Neukirchner (Alstare Engineering Suzuki) scored 16th in regulation qualifying and thus qualified for Superpole, running out 13th fastest, and giving his fellow countrymen something to cheer about from the vast Lausitz grandstands. Chris Walker (Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse) had a hard time adjusting his ZX-10R to the bumps and ripples of the 4.265km Lausitz circuit, and ended up 14th. Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Berik Ducati) ended his Superpole 15th, with Michel Fabrizio (DF Treme Honda) an unexpected 16th. His team-mate, Pierfrancesco Chili, had to go to hospital to get a CAT scan on his right pelvic region after a crash in practice today, to check that he did not have any recurrence of his recent pelvic injury. He was cleared but will make a decision on whether to race or not on Sunday morning.

SUPERPOLE MISSES FOR TOP SBK MISTERS Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France Ipone) just missed out on Superpole participation by one place, while Ivan Clementi (Team Pedercini) scored 18th place. Marco Borciani (Sterilgarda Berik Ducati) was 19th and reigning Superstock 1000 champion Didier Vankeymeulen (MGM TTSL Racing Yamaha) scored a top 20 finish in his wildcard weekend, in front of nine other riders. Craig Jones (Petronas FP-1) was a more than respectable 21st. A tough day for talented riders such as Kurtis Roberts (Pedercini Ducati), Roberto Rolfo (Ducati SC Caracchi Ducati) and Josh Brookes (Kawasaki Bertocchi) saw them finish 26th to 28th respectively in regulation qualifying.

SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Almost every single rider in the Supersport class improved their Friday times, including championship leader Kevin Curtain, who improved on his already impressive provisional pole time to take pole itself, with a 1'41.006. A cosmopolitan front row, in terms of riders and machines, saw Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda) second quickest, with a 1'41.402, Christian Zaiser (LBR Ducati 748) third and Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) fourth.
With Charpentier only seven points down on Curtain in the championship itself, the Lausitz WSS race promises to be a significant fight. Sofuoglu is the most recent winner of a World Supersport race, only last weekend in the wet at Assen, and is another rider in with a more than fair shout of absolute success on Sunday.

SUPERSTOCK 1000 FIM CUP Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia) was the man on pole in the big Superstock category, some 0.7 seconds up on second fastest rider Luca Scassa (EVR Corse Ormeni MV Agusta). Ayrton Badovini (Biassono Unionbike MV Agusta) was third quickest in pre-race, and Brendan Roberts (HP Racing Suzuki) fourth. Championship leader, Alessandro Polita (Celani Suzuki) was a lowly ninth.

SUPERSTOCK 600 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP Niccolo Canepa (Ducati Xerox) scored his third race win of the 2006 season, this time over Davide Giugliano (Lightspeed Kawasaki) with championship leader Xavier Simeon (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) third. The 12-lap contest was an eventually close affair, with the top three separated by only 0.704 seconds. Simeon now has 176 points to Canepa's 151, with Guigliano on 120.