Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox powered to his sixth Superpole of the year in the Bennetts European Round at Donington Park in a wet 50-minute, 12-lap session.

For the Australian rider, who as a result wins the Alfa Romeo Superpole Award, it was his third Superpole in a row and the 24th in his career. Bayliss looked particularly quick in the final part of the 4.02 km circuit, and is certainly one of the candidates for the wins in tomorrow's eleventh round of the championship.

The only rider capable of matching Bayliss's performance was Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), but he crashed at the final hairpin on his quick lap right at the end and had to settle for eighth quickest time. Alongside Bayliss on the front row are the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda pairing of Brands Hatch winner Ryuichi Kiyonari and Carlos Checa.

Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) made a major improvement today to take the final front row grid slot, while wild-card James Ellison (Hydrex Bike Animal Honda) took the first place on row 2 ahead of Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati). The British wild-cards who had made all the running in the first two days were out of luck; Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) crashed into the gravel, as did Cal Crutchlow (HM Plant Honda).

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) could only manage a place on the third row, while Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki), who has failed to shine so far this weekend, is one row behind.

Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox): “It's been a difficult situation this weekend, wet right from the start but for sure tomorrow it's going to be dry and that will throw a spanner into the works as far as tyre choice goes! I'm very happy today, but these other guys were riding really hard, Kiyonari especially. I don't think anyone can match my poles this year so for sure it's nice to win an Alfa!”

Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda): “Today was very difficult conditions but we tried many different settings and finally I found a good one. For wet conditions we are OK but I do not know if it is dry. For me however, either is OK for tomorrow.”

Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda): “It was quite a hard job because today at Donington was not the best conditions, but we've been working quite well during the weekend and have got good settings for tomorrow if it is wet. We are very satisfied with the front row and quite ready and comfortable about these conditions tomorrow.”

FIM Supersport World Championship

Matthieu Lagrive (Intermoto Czech Honda) will start the tenth round of the Supersport championship from pole position for the second race in a row following on from Brands Hatch.

Next to the Frenchman will be Britain's Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), who will be looking for his third win in a row tomorrow, Barry Veneman (RES Software Suzuki) of the Netherlands and Australian Joshua Brookes (Hannspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda).

The difficult weather conditions brought forward a number of riders not usually seen at the front of the grid, in particular Belgium's Didier Van Keymeulen (RES Software Suzuki), Finland's Vesa Kallio (Benjan Honda) and South African Hudson Kennaugh (Raceways Yamaha). Italian Danilo Dell'Omo (HP Racing Honda) was also well up in ninth slot, while two leading championship contenders, points leader Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) will start from row 4 and Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport) from row 5.

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