Team Suzuki Alstare riders Fonsi Nieto, Yukio Kagayama together with Team Alstare Suzuki rider Max Neukirchner used the first day of practice and qualifying at the Miller Motorsports Park to learn their way round the track and get used to racing at high altitude. The 4.907 kilometre circuit is about 1500 metres above sea level and all the bikes are suffering a drop in performance as a result. At the end of the day, Fonsi had qualified sixth, Yukio seventh and Max fifteenth. Series leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) is on provisional pole, ahead of fellow countryman Troy Corser (Yamaha), with Carlos Checa (Honda) third and Jake Smrz (Ducati) fourth.
After the flyaway trip to Qatar and Australia, the Superbike World Championship returns to European soil with his weekend’s third round in Valencia. The race will be a special one for Team Suzuki Alstare rider Fonsi Nieto, as it will be his home race, and will also be an important one for one of the team’s Spanish sponsors - Pepephone. For Yukio Kagayama and Max Neukirchner it will be a chance to improve on last year’s so-so results.