Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Troy Corser missed out on a front row grid place by less then a tenth of second at the Brands Hatch World Superbike eighth round today, but he is happy with his bike’s race set-up and ready to challenge for the lead in tomorrow’s pair of 25-lappers.

His team mate Yukio Kagayama had a bit of a nervous Superpole and ended ninth quickest, but he too is confident of making good starts and challenging the leaders.

Series leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) had been fastest in qualifying and followed that up by taking Superpole today three-tenths-of-a-second ahead of Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) with Karl Muggeridge third and his Honda team mate James Toseland fourth.

Troy Corser - 5th, 1:6.00:
“The only problem I had in Superpole was a bit of a slide which lost me three tenths of a second and once that happened I knew winning Superpole was gone. Strangely though, I’d rather be fifth on the grid than fourth because of the slope at Brands Hatch. Fifth is on the top part and the run to the first turn from there is much easier than from fourth. I’ve got a pretty good race set-up and know what we can do on race tyres, so now it’s up to me to get a couple of good starts. If I can do that, I’m confident that I’ll be fighting with the leaders.”

Yukio Kagayama - 9th, 1:26 .560:
“I am so angry not be on the font row of the grid because that was my intention. I felt a lot of pressure and a bit nervous on my Superpole lap. Ninth is not so bad as long as I make good starts because the position is on the top of the slope and better than eighth because that place is on the lower part of the grid. It’s better to be high up on the grid for the charge down to turn one. My race set-up is ok and I know which tyres to use but we will try a very small adjustment in the morning warm-up tomorrow to alter the balance of the bike a little. That’s all.”