Aprilia's Max Biaggi has stolen the provisional World Superbike pole position from underneath Ben Spies' nose with his last lap at Miller Motorsport Park this evening/afternoon, depending on where you live.
The self-styled Roman Emperor left it until his last lap to put in a 1'49.820 lap to head the timesheets just seconds after Yamaha's Spies had been the first man to drop inside the 1'49s with a 1'49.901. It's the first time Biaggi, who has clearly been listening to Colin Wright, has headed the timesheets this year.
Double winner last year Carlos Checa had been atop the sheet for most of the session until Spies and Biaggi got their shit together and the Spaniard ended up third.
Guandalini Ducati's Jakub Smrz clearly thinks he is at Assen with a fourth fastest time while Michel Fabrizio is the first of the Xerox Ducatis in fifth, just over half a second off the pace.
Macclesfield-born Jamie Hacking is putting his track knowledge to good use, finishing the session in sixth while countryman Shane Byrne is once again fastest real Brit on a 1'52.512, 0.7s off the pace.
First practice king Yukio Kagayama crashed hard in the early part of the session and could only recover to eighth while early runner Ryuichi Kiyonari was eventually busted down to ninth, with team-mate Jonathan Rea in tenth.
Series leader Noriyuki Haga is 11th just in front of Muggas, Broc Parkes and Troy Corser, who needs to go back to his free practice settings as he was second then. Tom Sykes is struggling in 19th, but not as miuch as Leon Haslam in 20th. But it's his birthday on Sunday and he will be 45.
Tommy Hill was the last of the Brits in 24th and will someone please give that man a proper motorbike to ride, or at least a team that knows what a spanner looks like.
