Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders Steve Martin and Craig Jones refused to wilt in the heat of the first day’s qualifying at round seven of the Superbike World Championship at the Czech Republic circuit of Brno.

In sweltering conditions, Steve finished the first day 10th fastest while Craig was 22nd in an extended field of 31 entrants.

Steve bettered his time on race rubber from the recent test at the punishing circuit, a second down on provisional poleman James Toseland, setting a time of 2:03.408 before a freak downpour ended the session prematurely.

He said: “I was pretty happy with the day and we are in a lot better position at the end of the first day than we have been in the past here. I am not getting too excited but feel pretty comfortable doing very consistent lap times. If I can maintain that for the race then maybe we can go somewhere. However, the high temperatures meant the grip was low and the other riders were doing much faster times at the recent test. The shower was amazing - I was dry coming past the box on the start-finish straight and drenched going into the first corner!”

Craig set his fastest time of the day in the morning free practice, although his time of 2:04.977 was almost a second off the pace he achieved at the test.

He said: “The grip was poor so it was a bit of a lottery to do decent times. Everyone was struggling with grip but the other bikes have more power and torque to pull them up the hill. I know the times that I was capable of doing at the test so I will just stick with the set-up we found at Lausitzring earlier this week and start to push harder tomorrow morning when the temperatures should be lower.”