Hodgson just misses out in Sugo Superpole

Noriyuki Haga may have taken the pole for tomorrows Japanese World Superbike round at Sugo, but Neil Hodgson was the closest man behind him, 0.017 seconds behind him. Japanese wildcard and previous winner Makoto Tamada could only manage third behind the two WSB regulars.

Bostrom and Edwards took fourth and fifth, with a returning Akira Yanagawa on the Kawasaki ZX-7RR in sixth, ahead of reigning world champion and current championship leader Troy Bayliss.

Eric Bostrom took eigth ahead of two Japanese wildcard riders on Yamaha R7s, Tsujimura and Yoshikawa, while James Toseland managed to improve to eleventh on the grid, obviously inspired by the messages of support sent to him in the motorcyclenews.com live webchat yesterday.

Ruben Xaus was a lowly twelth, with Brits Chris Walker in fourteenth and Mark Heckles in twentieth position.

In Supersport the pole has been taken by Katsuaki Fujiwara, from Alstare Suzuki teammate Stephan Chambon. Paolo Casoli and Karl Muggeridge round out the front row of the grid.

The second row is Foret, Vermuelen, Bontempi and Kellner, with James Whitham in ninth.

World champion Andrew Pitt is in thirteenth, one place ahead of Iain MacPherson. James Ellison finished in twentieth position, with Rob Frost in twenty-fourth place.