Castrol Honda's Jonathan Rea set the fastest time in the final World Superbike qualifying session at Assen this morning, deposing yesterday's quickest man Jakub Smrz with his final lap but only by a 0.023 of a second.

Rea went round in 1'36.035 compared to the Czech man's 1'36.058 set yesterday while Alitalia Aprilia's Max Biaggi kept his time from yesterday to remain in third place. BMW veteran Troy Corser hopped into fourth and rounds out the front row only a quarter of a second in arrears.

Pata Aprilia's Noriyuki Haga slashed his time dramatically from yesterday to head row two with a 1'36.368 while the second BMW of Leon Haslam is sixth and Marco Melandri, on the first works Yamaha, is seventh. He was more than a second slower this morning than yesterday but still kept Alstare Suzuki's Michel Fabrizio behind him in eighth. The Italian also failed to improve his lap today.

Althea Ducati's Carlos Checa will be scratching his head in ninth place and half a second off the pace and he has Ruben Xaus and the second Aprilia of Leon Camier for company on row three. The lanky Brit has found more than half a second since yesterday and it was enough to fend off a challenge from Eugene Laverty.

PBM Kawasaki's Tom Sykes heads row three with team-mate Joan Lascorz next to him. Sylvain Guintoli and Ayrton Badovini were the last men to make it into Superpole this afternoon. Chris Vermeuelen was 18th.