The Carlos Checa World Superbike juggernaut has continued, with the Spaniard dominating the opening practice session at Phillip Island in preparation for this Sunday’s opening round of the championship.

While Checa was in blistering form, the outing was a disaster for Australian hope Troy Corser, who struggled with set-up on his factory BMW and finished with the slowest time in the 22-rider field behind fellow Australian rookies Mark Aitchison and Bryan Staring.

The 39-year-old Corser is normally a powerful presence at the Phillip Island grand prix circuit, where he has won seven races since 1995.

After dominating a pre-season test at Phillip Island earlier this week, Checa, the world number three, resumed normal service in today’s 60-minute hit out, setting a best lap of 1:31.646 on his Ducati.

Checa completed the session well ahead of Honda’s Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki rookie Joan Lascorz, Corser’s British team-mate Leon Haslam, and Ducati’s Sylvain Guintoli.

Italy’s world champion Max Biaggi formally kick-started his title defence with a solid sixth place, while the leading Aussie was Mildura’s Josh Waters on a Suzuki.

Waters has a one-off wild card entry for this weekend’s round, as has Kawasaki rider Staring.

The opening WSBK qualifying session will be held at 3:30pm this afternoon.

In the first World Supersport practice session this morning, former world champion Fabien Foret just edged out Australia’s Broc Parkes, with Frenchman David Salom and Briton Sam Lowes completing the top four.

For the domestic ranks, Wayne Maxwell topped the Australian Superbike times for Team Honda Racing, while new BMW recruit Glenn Allerton was second ahead of Jamie Stauffer (Team Honda Racing).

In Supersport, Brodie Waters was fastest for Team Suzuki ahead of Triumph privateer Mitchell Carr and Gobert Motorsports Yamaha’s Aaron Gobert.