Valencia (Spain), Saturday 14 April: Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) shrugged off his recent spate of injuries to take his fifteenth career pole position and third of the year in four races. Despite a lengthy excursion into the gravel during Superpole, the Australian found the damp conditions to be to his advantage as he took the top slot from the early pace-setter Ruben Xaus (Ducati). The final two positions on the front row went to the surprise of the day, Josh Brookes (Honda) and Troy Corser (Yamaha), but few riders completed their full quota of laps, preferring not to risk everything on the wet Valencia track surface.
"I'm not going to dwell on my injuries because I've had enough time to get better" declared Troy. "I've come here feeling quite good and I was immediately quite happy with the way I felt on the bike considering my condition. The situation seems to be back to normal and the team and I are happy with the way things have gone. I think for anyone to ride around here in the rain it's pretty dangerous and when I saw Ruben's lap time I knew it was quite fast and that I would have to put my heart in my mouth to beat it. I came out of Superpole in one piece and hopefully we'll get a dry race tomorrow. I'm also really happy to see Ruben back up here with me as we were team-mates in the past. I know what he's capable of and I'm sure he's going to stick his head in there tomorrow".
Lorenzo Lanzi was quickest in the wet final free practice session for the Ducati Xerox Team and then posted sixth quickest time in Superpole, just a fraction behind championship leader James Toseland (Honda).
"I am quite pleased because I found the right feeling in the wet and in the free practice before Superpole I was the quickest" commented Lorenzo. "During Superpole, we waited a bit too long before going out onto the track, the riders ahead of me all went in before me and all improved their time. When I went in however, a few drops of rain came down and I was unable to improve. I feel OK for tomorrow and I am sure there will be two great races, either in wet or dry conditions ".
Starting-grid: 1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m51.982s;
2. Xaus (Ducati) 1m52.085s;
3. Brookes (Honda) 1m52.199s;
4. Corser (Yamaha) 1m52.733s;
5. Toseland (Honda) 1m52.801s;
6. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 1m52.942s;
7. Haga (Yamaha) 1m52.961s;
8. Kagayama (Suzuki) 1m53.634s;
9. Fabrizio (Honda) 1m53.750s;
10. Muggeridge (Honda) 1m54.108s; etc.
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