James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) scored his best lap of the weekend to earn a place on the front row at the final round of the 2006 season. His 1'39.355 lap was the second best overall, as Troy Corser scored pole. Crucially, Toseland's rival for overall second in the championship, Noriyuki Haga, was only fifth fastest, and now starts from one row behind Toseland. James is two points ahead of Haga currently, and only has to keep his nose ahead of the Japanese rider in the 23-lap races to secure second in the final points standings.
Eighth away in Superpole, Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) jumped to the top of the Superpole ranking with his 1'39.911 lap, over a second faster than he was in regulation qualifying. He stayed there until Corser set his fastest lap, and Karl now starts the race from the front row, thanks to the fourth best time of the session.
Ronald Ten Kate - Team Manager“With both riders on the front row I am still a happy man, and all four of our riders, including the two in Supersport, got on the front row - which I think is quite remarkable. Both Superbike riders had good laps, just a few mistakes here and there. We know we had to be very fast to win this Superpole and we nearly made it anyway. It is important here to have both riders starting from the front row, because tomorrow is all about second place in the championship. Now we have the best starting point possible.”
James Toseland - (2nd Position - Fastest Lap 1'39.355 - 25 laps)“I should stop watching other people's Superpole laps because at Imola Bayliss went as fast as Valentino Rossi and now Troy Corser went out here and beat my time! I put a pretty good lap together, to be fair, second fastest of the weekend, and second on the grid. So I'm in a good position to put together a challenge for second place in the championship, which is the most important thing. Earlier today my rival Haga and I went out and were fighting for about 25-minutes in practice, and he ended up a row behind on the grid. The Yamaha gets off the like OK, but I just need to keep in front of him. I can't fight for the championship win anymore, so I want this second place badly.”
Karl Muggeridge - (4th Position - Fastest Lap 1'39.911 - 23 laps)“We've been fortunate this weekend because we tried a few things on my second bike, after my normal number one bike developed a gearbox problem. Testing here was a real benefit to us - it always is when you get the chance before you come to the race weekend. We had similar weather at the test but we have learned more about the track and the bike here than we did at the test. I would love to get on the podium tomorrow, that's what I'm going for.”
Superpole: 1. Corser - Suzuki - 1'39.147
2. Toseland - Winston Ten Kate Honda - 1'39.355
3. Lanzi - Ducati - 1'39.773
4. MUggeridge - Winston Ten Kate Honda - 1'39.911
5. Haga - Yamaha - 1'39.914
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