Yamaha Motor Italia rider Noriyuki Haga gave his team reason to cheer at their home race as he sped to provisional pole position for Sunday's races at Monza.

Light drizzle throughout the afternoon's one-hour qualifying session meant a reduced number of laps for the 30 superbike entrants but, despite the tricky conditions, Haga's best lap of 1:47.007 was only a fraction slower than Neil Hodgson's three-year-old ultimate lap record.

Team-mate Andrew Pitt was happy with his day's work. The Australian ended the day in seventh but felt he could have been higher after taking a cautious line through the fast Parabolica curve. Both riders have been able to take advantage of improvements to their YZF-R1 machines, including a new specification swingarm. The team is hoping for dry conditions in tomorrow's final practice and qualifying sessions to allow them to make further improvements for Sunday's two 18 lap races, for which the final grid positions will be decided in tomorrow's superpole session.

Yamaha Motor France had a tough day in Monza with Norick Abe destroying his machine in a spectacular highside mid-way through the session. The Japanese rider lost control of his YZF-R1 while exiting the Ascari chicane and was taken to hospital for precautionary checks. Tests confirmed that the rider has not broken any bones, although the team will wait until the morning before deciding if he is fit enough to take any further part in the weekend. Frenchman Sebastien Gimbert was the team's fastest rider, in 15th, with Japanese rookie Shinichi Nakatomi ending the day 23rd on his first visit to the circuit.

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia)
"A good session. We've made some changes to the bike and they seem to be working well here. The team has brought a new swinging arm for us to try and it seems to have some benefits, although there are also a few disadvantages too. We need to test more tomorrow to make a final decision, but the bike feels good. I ran a lot of laps along with Troy Bayliss and we were able to have some fun passing and repassing each other. Hopefully we can make some more improvements for the race. The team has many fans and sponsors here this weekend and I have some friends coming over from Japan tonight. I hope that we can put a good performance on for them."

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia)
"We've come to Monza with a new set-up and so far it's working well for us. I'm feeling really confident with the bike and should probably be higher than seventh. On my fastest lap I was up at the first two splits but lost it all at the end. I probably just took it too easy going into Parabolica as I could see the spots of rain beading on my visor and wasn't sure how much grip there actually was. I'm quite happy though. We should be able to make some more improvements tomorrow and I'm confident that we'll be up there on Sunday."

Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France)
"It's a shame we couldn't do as many laps as we'd like because of the conditions today, as I must learn this circuit. We are not sure what the weather will be tomorrow but I am ready to improve whatever the conditions."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "It's been a good day but I don't want to get carried away as it is only Friday. We weren't sure what to expect here as this is a fast track and top speed isn't perhaps our strength but the riders are happy with their bikes and it seems that the new swingarm we are using is also a step forward. We'll see what tomorrow brings but for now we are all satisfied with our day's work."

Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France) "Norick had a bad crash today and we will decide tomorrow if he can race or not. He had a bit of a bang on the head, although the doctors say that nothing is broken. We will let him rest and see how things are in the morning."

Yamaha Motor Germany star Kevin Curtain was the leading R6 rider in qualifying for Sunday's fourth round of the Supersport World Championship at Monza in Italy.

In dry but overcast conditions, the 40-year-old Australian was under the lap record pace as he set the third fastest time around the historic speedbowl, recording a best lap time of 1:52.038.

Curtain was satisfied on what is his first visit to Monza with the latest YZF-R6. The squad are are taking advantage of a new specification front tyre from Pirelli. Both Curtain and his team-mate Broc Parkes have tested the tyre with good results and are delighted to have it available on a race weekend.

Yamaha Team Italia rider Gianluca Vizziello, who won the national supersport championship race at Monza the previous weekend, ended the day sixth with Parkes alongside him on the provisional second row of the grid, in seventh.

Massimo Roccoli was 14th fastest on the second Yamaha Team Italia R6, with Yamaha GMT94's David Checa 19th in his first world supersport outing of the year.

Championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) was the fastest man today with a 1:51.061 lap. Final practice for Sunday's race takes place tomorrow afternoon.