Superpole three
Max Biaggi 1'41.745
Eugene Laverty 1'42.393
Jonathan Rea 1'42.614
Alitalia Aprilia's Max Biaggi stormed to his first World Superbike pole position at Monza this afternoon, annihilating his own outright lap record of 1'42.121 and finishing nearly a quarter of a second ahead of second placed man Eugene Laverty, on the factory Yamaha, clocking nearly 209mph in the process.
After some fencing for track position with new enemy Marco Melandri early on, Biaggi took top spot with a 1'42.319 which remained fastest until his second and last flyer which marmalised everyone.
Castrol Honda's Jonathan Rea is third while Troy Corser was first BMW home in fourth. Melandri heads the second row with Leon Haslam for company. The Derbyshire man spent the final session trying to make a race tyre work but kept losing his speed through the second sector.
Alstare Suzuki's Michel Fabrizio is seventh with Noriyuki Haga eighth. Ayrton Badovini and Leon Camier round out the top ten.
Superpole two
Marco Melandri 1'42.201
Eugene Laverty 1'42.250
Max Biaggi 1'42.386
Laverty and Melandri shared the spoils at the top of the sheets the second session but championship leader Carlos Checa was eliminated, along with Camier who couldn't quite make a race tyre do the required job, having a moment in the second chicane that ruined his final effort.
Haslam asked for a race tyre with four minutes left to go and it paid off as he went into fifth with his last lap, only to be knocked down to sixth by Fabrizio. Team-mate Corser played it cool and watched from his garage to see if he would make it through in an effort to save a qualifier.
ELIMINATED
Ayrton Badovini
Leon Camier
Carlos Checa
Sylvain Guintoli
Superpole one
Max Biaggi 1'42.137
Leon Haslam 1'42.182
Michel Fabrizio 1'42.515
Biaggi took one lap on a qualifier to stake his claim and went to within fractions of his outright lap record while Camier followed Haslam round on their respective last laps to make it into the second session while Fabrizio also left it until the last second.
Lots of riders used their first qualifying tyre, this weekend with a tricolore band to celebrate 150 years of Italian unity, judging by the plethora of 1'42s laps.
All hell will break lose in the PBM Kawasaki pit as both Tom Sykes and Joan Lascorz both failed to make it through. Team boss Paul Bird threatened big changes ahead of this meeting after the squad's Assen Superpole nightmare which seems to have continued in Italy.
ELIMINATED
Joan Lascorz
Tom Sykes
Jakub Smrz
Maxime Berger
