Brands Hatch World Superbikes: Troy Bayliss pips James Toseland in superpole battle

Xerox Ducati’s Troy Bayliss won the first of the battles at Brands Hatch as he pipped Britain’s James Toseland to pole position by just 0.028secs. 

Thousands of spectators cheered as Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s James Toseland snatched the top spot from Yamaha’s Noriyuki Haga knocking 0.243secs off the Japanese rider’s lap time.

Troy Bayliss believes the home race pressure may get to James Toseland.

He said: “James is in a great position in the championship. Of course he would love to have a good race in front of his home crown but it can bite you on the bum.”

Noriyuki Haga was the first of the frontrunners from the weekend leading up to superpole to head out on the track and did not disappoint his Yamaha bosses as he went straight to the top of the timesheets with a 1:25.878 despite suffering a ‘moment’ late in his lap.

Alstare Suzuki’s Max Biaggi was fifth out for the session and shot up to provisional pole 1.143secs ahead of Karl Muggeridge who was second at that point. But Muggeridge was soon to go down the list with Yamaha YZF’s Steve Martin soon taking second after Max Biaggi.

Biaggi only held on to pole for as long as it took three other riders to get round as his teammate Yukio Kagayama flew round 0.3secs faster than Troy Bayliss’ qualifying practice time with a 1:25.961.

It was enough to see Yukio Kagayama on the front row of the grid which sees four different manufacturers starting from row one.

Brands Hatch World Superbikes superpole qualifying results:

1 Troy BAYLISS  AUS Ducati 999 F07 1:25.607
2 James TOSELAND  GBR Honda CBR1000RR 1:25.635
3 Noriyuki HAGA  JPN Yamaha YZF-R1 1:25.878
4 Yukio KAGAYAMA  JPN Suzuki GSX-R1000 K7 1:25.961
5 Troy CORSER  AUS Yamaha YZF-R1 1:26.127
6 Max BIAGGI  ITA Suzuki GSX-R1000 K7 1:26.200
7 Ruben XAUS  ESP Ducati 999 F06 1:26.476
8 Lorenzo LANZI  ITA Ducati 999 F07 1:26.488
9 Roberto ROLFO  ITA Honda CBR1000RR 1:26.717
10 Michel FABRIZIO  ITA Honda CBR1000RR 1:26.946
11 Steve MARTIN  AUS Yamaha YZF-R1 1:27.206
12 Regis LACONI FRA Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:27.260
13 Karl MUGGERIDGE  AUS Honda CBR1000RR 1:27.343
14 Max NEUKIRCHNER  GER Suzuki GSX-R1000 K6 1:27.449
15 Fonsi NIETO  ESP Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:27.564
16 Shinichi NAKATOMI  JPN Yamaha YZF-R1 1:27.817
17 Jakub SMRZ CZE Ducati 999 F05 1’28.219
18 Marty NUTT GBR Yamaha YZF-R1 1’28.548
19 Dean ELLISON GBR Ducati 999RS 1’29.030
20 Luca MORELLI ITA Honda CBR1000RR 1’30.289
21 Stefano CRUCIANI ITA Suzuki GSX-R1000 K6 1’30.638