Xerox Ductati's Michel Fabrizio carried his free practice form from earlier this afternoon into the first World Superbike qualifying session, taking provisional pole from Sterilgarda Yamaha's Tom Sykes.
The Italian started the session fast, setting fastest times from the beginning before posting a 1'45.933 lap, followed by a 1'45.877 which remained the quickest time until Fabrizio went quicker again in his last run of laps when he set the provisional pole time of 1'45.447.
Sykes grabbed second from the other Xerox Ducati of Noriyuki Haga with his very last lap of 1'45.758 with the Samurai of Slide a fraction behind Huddersfield's finest. Ten Kate Honda's Jonathan Rea sitting in third until Sykes put in his last lap, and the Irishman rounds out the front row.
The Alstare Brux Suzukis of Max Neukirchner and Yukio Kagayama are fifth and sixth, and the last of the riders to get under the 1'46 barrier, with American Ben Spies in seventh, half a second off Fabrizio's pace. A late charge by Aprilia's Max Biaggi was enough to secure a second-row position for the Roman Emperor.
Sterilgarda Ducati's Shane Byrne took tenth place just behind Carlos Checa, while Leon Haslam just lost out to Ryiuchi Kiyonari despite taking chunks out of his time from free practice. Tommy Hill finished in 21st place, a little under two seconds off the pace while John Hopkins' replacement Jake Zemke was 22nd.
