Zoom Troy Bayliss

Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) set the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza alight this afternoon with a blistering time in Superpole, the Australian setting a new circuit best lap of 1 minute 44.931 seconds to clinch his third pole position in five races this season.

Bayliss managed to improve his Free Practice 2 time on qualifying tyres a few minutes before Superpole by 0.008 seconds, leaving all his other rivals trailing. The front row however is also made up of machines from Suzuki, Yamaha and Honda as well as Ducati, with Kawasaki not far behind, confirming the competitiveness of all the manufacturers.

Second quickest time went to the rapidly improving Max Neukirchner (Suzuki Alstare), three-tenths of a second behind Bayliss, followed by 2007 double winner Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) and Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda). The Suzuki squad has looked particularly impressive so far here at Monza, with the Belgian team's other two riders Yukio Kagayama and Fonsi Nieto qualifying on row 2 of the grid, together with Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) and Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda).

Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) made progress this afternoon, the Italian qualifying in fifteenth place after the two sessions but moving up to ninth in the one-lap dash, a result that gives him a third row grid start. Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) struggled to twelfth quickest time behind Régis Laconi (Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse) but ahead of Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) in thirteenth.

Troy Bayliss: "It's been a bit of a mixed weekend, we've been struggling a bit with the race tyre but we've worked hard, trying different things and finally it's come quite good. We were down a little way this morning but made a few changes and now we are much more consistent on the race tyre. I was very happy with the lap I did in Superpole. I thought it was possible Nori or Max could do a little faster, but they made tiny mistakes and that was enough to keep that lap. I also made a little mistake in the first chicane when I ran wide but it came together good. Tomorrow will see some tough racing, Max is consistent on the tyre and proving to be a real contender. It's very difficult to get away at Monza, I have a feeling it's going to be between Max, Nori and myself but I'm sure it's going to be more than that for the first eight laps".