Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) led the way in qualifying at a cold and wet Donington Park circuit as a group of British Superbike wild-card riders made a good impression on the first day of action. The 39 year-old Australian, who has never actually won at the Leicestershire track, clocked a time of 1 minute 44.377 seconds to hold the overnight pole from Brands Hatch winner Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda).
The Japanese rider, British champion for the last two years, was one-tenth behind Bayliss in second but a fraction ahead of a trio of current BSB riders headed by Cal Crutchlow (HM Plant Honda), Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) and Leon Haslam (HM Plant Honda).
The Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati pairing of Italian Max Biaggi and Ruben Xaus were next up in sixth and seventh, with two more Spanish riders Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Gregorio Lavilla (VentAxia Honda) filling the next two places, while another Brit James Ellison (Hydrex Bike Animal Honda) completed the top 10.
So far failing to make their mark are the Yamaha Motor Italia pairing of Troy Corser, who crashed twice in the morning free practice session and is in 12th, and Noriyuki Haga, down in 24th position, while the other championship contender Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki) could only manage 23rd. Today's appalling weather conditions produced a total of 19 crashes involving 13 riders.
World Superbike – Donington Park 1st Qualifying
Pos – Rider – Team - Time
1 - Troy Bayliss - Ducati Xerox Team - 1'44.377
2 - Ryuichi Kiyonari - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda - 1'44.528
3 - Cal Crutchlow - HM Plant Honda - 1'44.627
4 - Tom Sykes - Rizla Suzuki - 1'44.682
5 - Leon Haslam - HM Plant Honda - 1'44.813
6 - Max Biaggi - Sterilgarda Go Eleven - 1'45.384
7 - Ruben Xaus - Sterilgarda Go Eleven - 1'45.725
8 - Carlos Checa - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda - 1'45.936
9 - Gregorio Lavilla - Ventaxia VK Honda - 1'46.044
10 - James Ellison - Hydrex Bike Animal Honda - 1'46.392
11 - Chris Walker - Ventaxia VK Honda - 1'46.553
12 - Troy Corser - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB - 1'46.803
13 - Kenan Sofuoglu - Hannspree Ten Kate Honda Jr. - 1'46.912
14 - Jakub Smrz - Guandalini Racing - 1'46.924
15 - Michel Fabrizio - Ducati Xerox Team - 1'47.114
16 - Fonsi Nieto - Team Suzuki Alstare - 1'47.344
17 - David Checa - Yamaha France Ipone GMT 94 - 1'47.624
18 - Karl Muggeridge - D.F. Racing - 1'47.778
19 - Yukio Kagayama - Team Suzuki Alstare - 1'47.834
20 - Roberto Rolfo - Hannspree Honda Althea - 1'48.031
21 - Régis Laconi - Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse - 1'48.092
22 - Ayrton Badovini - Team Pedercini - 1'48.463
23 - Max Neukirchner - Team Alstare Suzuki - 1'48.724
24 - Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB - 1'48.841
25 - Lorenzo Lanzi - R.G. Team - 1'48.915
26 - Sébastien Gimbert - Yamaha France Ipone GMT 94 - 1'50.349
27 - Shinichi Nakatomi - YZF Yamaha - 1'50.454
28 - Vittorio Iannuzzo - Team Pedercini - 1'51.703
29 - Makoto Tamada - Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse - 1'52.710
30 - Christian Zaiser - Grillini PBR Team - 1'53.923
31 - Luca Morelli - D.F. Racing - 1'54.032
32 - Matt Lynn - Alto Evolution Honda Superbike - 1'54.910
33 - Shuhei Aoyama - Alto Evolution Honda Superbike - 1'56.132
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