Yamaha's Ben Spies has taken provisional pole position at the Dutch World Superbike round this afternoon with a pair of blistering laps in the final ten minutes which knocked Jakub Smrz off the top spot.
Spies went out with nine minutes to go after slowly climbing to fifth in the hour-long session and put in a 1'38.967 which bettered Smrz's time of 1'39.055 and then went faster again, lapping at 1'38.747. The American was the only rider to get under the 1'39s barrier.
Alstare Suzuki's Yukio Kagayama was third quickest just four-tenths behind Spies while a last-lap charge by Ten Kate Honda's Carlos Checa saw him nip up to fourth and complete the front row.
Michel Fabrizio was the first of the Xerox Ducati's in fifth place, half a second off the pace with Regis Laconi and Max Neukirchner just in front of top-placed Brit Jonathan Rea in eighth.
Stiggy Honda's Leon Haslam also put in a last-ditch lap to haul himself into tenth from 15th and just behind Rea's team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari, who was fastest as the start of the session, putting in a 1'39.734 with his first flying lap.
Shane Byrne finished 13th behind a struggling Noriyuki Haga with Karl Muggeridge next along. Tom Sykes was 15th quickest and crashed on his last lap. Tommy Hill made the top 20 and Stuart Easton improved his lap time from the free practice session, finishing in 25th with a 1'41.355.
