Results of first qualifying at Phillip Island saw Carlos Checa (Ducati Althea Racing) stake his claim as number one favourite for the Superbike wins in the opening round on Sunday in Victoria.

The Spaniard stopped the clocks with a time of 1:31.577, a tenth quicker than his free practice time of the morning, but slower than his best from recent testing – simply because the warmer track surface delivered less outright grip.

“Basically, we worked with the tyres this afternoon, just to make choices for race day,” Checa commented. “I felt good today but I think the grip was just a little bit less from the racetrack.

“We used the ‘big’ rear tyre and had similar results to the previous ones, so if we do that I prefer to continue with the existing tyres for now.

“Tomorrow we will just work towards raceday again, do a comparison with the tyres and then do some longer runs on the tyre we expect to use for the race.”

Another man on the move was Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati Effenbert-Liberty Racing), the Frenchman doing exceptionally well to come within three-tenths of Checa, despite suffering a fall in the morning session.

An impressive sub-1:32 lap time was set by Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team) and the WSBK rookie had the satisfaction of finishing one place ahead of 2010 world champion Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia).

Guintoli’s teammate Jakub Smrz posted fifth best time, and Leon Haslam overcame some early set-up issues to go sixth. He was the top BMW Motorrad Motorsport rider today, as Troy Corser went 11th.

Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki Alstare) had a harmless crash towards the end and finished seventh, one place up on impressive new WSBK talent, Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team).

Lascorz, a top runner in WSS until his promotion to Superbike this year, was only just over half a second from Checa.

Castrol Honda rider Jonathan Rea, who is still battered and bruised from his big testing get offs, was ninth fastest, placing all the competing manufacturers in WSBK this season in the top nine places in the first qualifying session.

Yoshimura Suzuki rider Josh Waters, a wild card at this event, was an impressive 10th on the exquisitely prepared Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R machine, leading his fellow countryman Corser.

Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team) was 12th, and one of many top names who ended up in the gravel at one point or other today.

Tom Sykes, Noriyuki Haga, James Toseland and Leon Camier rounded out the top 16.

Pedercini Kawasaki Aussie duo Bryan Starring and Mark Aitchison were 16th and 21st respectively.

Superbike World Championship
Friday Qualifying – Phillip Island, VIC

Superbike
1. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1’31.577
2. Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1’31.850
3. Laverty E. (IRL) Yamaha YZF R1 1’31.969
4. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’32.009
5. Smrz J. (CZE); Ducati 1098 1’32.066
6. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 1’32.082
7. 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’32.108
8. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’32.163
9. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’32.424
10. Waters J. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’32.690
11. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1’32.699
12. Melandri M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R1 1’32.700
13. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’32.705
14. Haga N. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’33.058
15. Toseland J. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 1’33.074

Supersport
1. Foret F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 1’34.091
2. Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’34.166
3. Lowes S. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 1’34.875
4. Davies C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 1’35.065
5. Tamburini R. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’35.203
6. Scassa L. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’35.236
7. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’35.297
8. Marino F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 1’35.335