Ten Kate Honda's Jonathan Rea has qualified in a provisional second place after today's World Superbike first qualifying session and is only four one-hundredths of a second behind fastest man Michel Fabrizio on the Xerox Ducati.
Sterilgarda Ducati's Shane Byrne is on the outside of the front row with Ben Spies sitting in third, less than a tenth of a second behind Fabrizio, after heading the session with only a handful of laps to go.
Noriyuki Haga is at the head of row two, just three-tenths off pole with the reigning World 250GP Champion Marco Simoncelli making his WSB debut on the Aprilia in sixth. Alstare Suzuki's Yukio Kagayama is seventh with an improving Ryuichi Kiyonari taking his Ten Kate Honda to the foot of row two.
Rea started the session fastest with a 1'50.801 before Byrne went quickest with a 1'50.636. Rea then went back to the top of the sheets with 1'50.436 before Stiggy Honda's Leon Haslam bettered that by a tenth.
As the time ticked on, Spies and Rea swapped times at the top before Fabrizio made a brief foray to the number one spot before a string of laps by Byrne dropped the bar to 1'49.257.
With five minutes left, Spies then put in three fast laps to top with 1'49.026 before Fabrizio's fastest lap of the morning saw him claim provisional pole.
