Honda Racing's Jonathan Rea snatched provisional pole away from under the nose of Czech rider Jakub Smrz in the dying seconds of World Superbike qualifying at Phillip Island this morning and joined Carlos Checa as the only people to duck under the 1'32s mark so far with his 1'31.959.
But is wasn't good news for Aprilia man Eugene Laverty who crashed at Lukey Heights in the opening minutes and was taken to the circuit medical centre. Although the Irishman is walking and talking, he banged his head in the fall but has subsequently been declared fit to ride tomorrow.
As the 45-minute session edged towards a close, it looked to be a Ducati festival as reigning champion Carlos Checa towed rookie team-mate Davide Guigliano around the Australian track and he took top spot away from the former MotoGP man and Smrz then jumped into second.
It looked like only Laverty's team-mate Max Biaggi would be able to do anything about the dominant twins, given that Nico Canepa had parked his Red Devils 1198 in fifth place minutes earlier, but the Roman Emperor was once again fast in the first part of the lap but couldn't make it stick for the duration.
He settled for fifth behind old rival Checa and is a little under four-tenths off Rea's pace but Canepa's lap means there are four Bologna bikes in the top six. Tom Sykes, who recovered from a crash in the first session of the day, came back to take seventh just ahead of team-mate Joan Lascorz who also fell, this time at Swan, but recovered to go back out.
Factory BMW's Marco Melandri is still struggling with his BMW S1000RR and posted a 1'32.553 to take ninth place while Michel Fabrizio, on the satellite BMW Italia bike, rounds out the top ten.
Sylvain Guintoli, on the second Effenbert bike, just did enough to stay ahead of Leon Camier's Fixi Suzuki and the former British Superbike Champion jumped ahead of Parkingo Aprilia's Chaz Davies who found a turn of pace to set the 13th fastest time.
Josh Brookes put the second Fixi GSX-R1000 in 20th place and then jumped off it at MG corner but re-mounted to finish the lap. Laverty himself did enough for 22nd and a place on the grid but one place ahead of him is the valiant Leon Haslam who did one flying lap, complete with broken leg, to take 21st.
