BAYLISS SECURES POLE ON DUCATI'S HOME GROUND - PRE-RACE BOOST FOR CHAMPION ELECT BAYLISS Having finished pre-Superpole qualifying only sixth fastest, runaway championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) pulled out a remarkable new track record of 1'48.805 to secure the pole position starting place for Sunday's 21-lap Superbike races. His irresistible pace in Superpole put him some 0.590 seconds ahead of second placed rider James Toseland, who also ducked under his personal best to score a 1'49.394 and take second place on the front row. The front row four will be completed by Aussie duo Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) and 2005 champion, Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra). The front row also features four different manufacturers on the front row.

KAGAYAMA GOES FROM FASTEST TO FIFTH Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) was the fastest rider in regulation pre-Superpole qualifying, and despite taking risks during his Superpole lap; he dropped to the front spot on the second row after Superpole. Arguably the star of the entire Superpole show was Max Neukirchner (Alstare Engineering Suzuki) who rode his heart out to go from an already impressive ninth in regulation to sixth. In overall second in the championship chase, Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) went seventh in Superpole. A fully competitive rider throughout his SBK Imola debut was Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda) but he could only score eighth after the lone duelling session of Superpole, taking the final place on the second row.

XAUS IN THE VANGUARD AT ONE OF HIS FAVOURITE CIRCUITS Privateer Ducati rider Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Berik) is a three time winner at Imola, and despite the lack of factory horsepower, or sophisticated electronics, he was a force all through practice and set ninth fastest time in Superpole - largely thanks to a small error in the modified Variante Alta. Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) was cheered all the way into the top ten by a partisan local crowd, outperforming another Italian rider, Michel Fabrizio (DFX Treme Honda) to take tenth. Another Italian ace, Ivan Clementi (Tem Pedercini Ducati) rounded out the top three rows in 12th place, on an even more venerable Ducati than that of Xaus.

LACONI MYSTIFIED AT FOURTH ROW START Having scored three previous race wins at Imola, PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse rider Regis Laconi was dismayed to find himself so far down the regular qualifying, and eventually the Superpole order. Last rider to qualify for Superpole, Laconi was 14th fastest after Superpole, behind Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) who was himself recovering from a slow crash, just before the start of Superpole. Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France Ipone) and Vittorio Iannuzzo (Celani Suzuki) rounded out the top Superpole 16.

MARTIN JUST MISSES SUPERPOLE BY A WHISKER Losing out on the up sections during Imola's frequent changes of elevation, Steve Martin (Petronas FP-1) scored 17th place on the grid, helping demonstrate how difficult a qualifying task it was for both Fonsi Nieto (Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse) 18th and Chris Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) at Imola. Kurtis Roberts was an ever-improving 20th on the second Pedercini Ducati, ahead of Josh Brookes (Kawasaki Bertocchi), who had suffered a heavy fall earlier in the day. Pierfrancesco Chili (DFX Treme Honda) was subdued in Superpole, scoring only 26th place.

SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP A fabulous battle of wills between team-mates Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) and Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda) characterized the second and final WSS qualifying session at Imola, with the 2005 champion Charpentier easing to a new track best of 1'52.245, with Sofuoglu only 0.269 behind. Third fastest was another Honda rider, Katsuaki Fujiwara (Megabike Honda), with championship leader Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) fourth quickest, and starting from the front row on Sunday. Top Ducati rider was local man Gianluca Nannelli (SC Caracchi Ducati), fifth quickest.

SUPERSTOCK 1000 FIM CUP Luca Scassa (EVR Corse Ormeni MV Agusta) took pole for Sunday's 1000cc Superstock race thanks to his time from first qualifying, 1'54.074. Ilario Dionisi (Unionbike Gi Motorsport MV Agusta) leapfrogged Friday's second quickest rider Brendan Roberts (HP Racing Suzuki) to take second on the grid. Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia) was fourth, while championship leader Alessandro Polita (Celani Suzuki) went seventh.

SUPERSTOCK 600 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP With Niccolo Canepa (Ducati Xerox) out of the race the field was left open for Xavier Simeon (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) to take the crown at Imola and he duly did so - but not without some nervous moments. He made a hard pass on eventual race winner Davide Giugliano (Lightspeed Kawasaki) early in the nine-lap race, but ran on into the final chicane, simultaneously losing the chance of another victory, and gifting full points to the following Giugliano. Sylvain Barrier (Moto1 Yamaha) scored a fine third place in the Imola race. With one race remaining, Simeon now has 196 points, Canepa an unchanged 151 and Giugliano 145.