Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) powered to provisional pole position in today's first WSBK qualifying session at the Misano World Circuit.

After setting the second quickest time in the morning's free practice, the Australian made his decisive move five minutes from the end of the afternoon session to grab pole with a time of 1 minute 36.863 seconds.

The points' leader was the only rider to break into the 1 minute 36 second bracket, ending up three-tenths of a second ahead of Jakub Smrz, who continued his positive qualifying form on the Guandalini Ducati. Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) was in third while Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) recorded a resurgence in form to complete the front row of the grid in fourth.

Row 2 is headed by Nurburgring double winner Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), followed by Frenchman Régis Laconi on his San Marino-liveried Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse machine who was immediately on the pace today at the team's home race. The final two places on the second row, making it five 1098 machines in the top 8, went to Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) and Lorenzo Lanzi (RG Ducati).

Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki) was slightly down on the pace this time round in ninth place, the German quite literally a fraction ahead of Karl Muggeridge (DF Racing Honda).

Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) and Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) were in some difficulty today down in 14th and 15th positions but both the Italian and the Spanish rider hope to make up ground in tomorrow morning's second and final qualifying session.

FIM Supersport World Championship

The first Supersport qualifying session was a close-fought affair, with the top 10 riders separated by eight-tenths of a second.

The quickest rider on the day, earning him provisional pole position, was Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport), just ahead of points leader Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Yamaha World Supersport team-mate Fabien Foret. Fourth place went to Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), the top two Yamaha and Honda factory teams monopolizing the front row.

Surprise of the day was again the Australian Mark Aitchison (Triumph Italia BE1 Racing), who is getting closer to the front at every race. A good performance also came from Matthieu Lagrive (Intermoto Czech Honda), with fellow Honda runners Joshua Brookes (Hannspree Stiggy Motorsport) and Joan Lascorz (Glaner Motocard.com) right behind.

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