Troy Bayliss topped the qualifying timesheets for the Ducati Xerox Team at the end of the first session at the Eurospeedway Lausitz in Germany. The Australian, who set a time of 1m38.569s, was a couple of tenths quicker than his fellow Australian, Troy Corser (Yamaha) and four-tenths ahead of the Japanese duo of Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha). Bayliss's team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi was in tenth position but just one second away from the provisional pole mark.
"It's a pretty good start to the weekend" said Troy. "I'm feeling quite comfortable on the bike and basically we've just been putting some laps on the tyres to see how it looks. We've more or less done race distance at the moment and everything's looking fine. I was quite consistent but we want to try and improve a little bit tomorrow and see how it goes and we're hoping for some good weather of course. Compared to last year I think the track is a bit bumpier and it's actually slightly slower because at the first corner the guys here have stuck down 'witches hats' with tar so you don't cut the corner like we used to. This morning we used the same front and rear for the whole session and this afternoon we did exactly the same right until the end when we just put another fresh race tyre in to set the quickest time".
"All the guys in front of me set their time with a softer front tyre" commented Lorenzo. "Instead I only did the session with race tyres and I'm really pleased. Unfortunately in the last few minutes there was a lot of traffic on the track and I was unable to improve my time. Even though I am just one second away from Troy, I have already lapped quicker than last year despite the traffic on the track and my choice of tyre. I've still got a few more things to try, but I've found a set-up that I like and I only hope that tomorrow and Sunday it's not going to rain!"
Times: 1.Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m38.569s
2. Corser (Yamaha) 1m38.780s
3. Kagayama (Suzuki) 1m38.980s
4. Haga (Yamaha) 1m39.011s
5. Toseland (Honda) 1m39.086s
6. Xaus (Ducati) 1m39.127s
7. Biaggi (Suzuki) 1m39.433s
8. Fabrizio (Honda) 1m39.487s
9. Muggeridge (Honda) 1m39.525s
10. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 1m39.639s
TV Coverage Europe:
Eurosport:Sunday: 1200 Superbike Race 1 (live).
Eurosport 2:Saturday: 2130 Superpole (delayed),
Sunday: 1130 Superstock 1000 (delayed), 2130 - Superbike Race 2 (delayed).
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