Troy Corser may have secured overnight pole for the second round of the World Superbike Championship on home soil at Phillip Island but, typically, he felt that there was more to come from his Yamaha Motor Italia YZF-R1.
Like all of his rivals, the series veteran was confronted with a circuit lacking in grip after early morning rain showers had washed the surface clean but, having been second fastest to team-mate Nori Haga in free practice, Corser went one better by posting a 1min 32.336secs lap to topple Aussie rival
Troy Bayliss from top spot in the closing minutes of qualifying.
The relatively cool temperatures of the afternoon may have been an improvement on practice, but Corser could not get down to the sort of time that he had set in the recent group test at the circuit, when conditions were warmer still.
"The test we had was held in very different conditions and the chassis setting we had for the test doesn't seem to be working now," he reported, "The grip just seems to be different on the ground."
Convinced that he can fine tune the Yamaha to better suit the conditions, Corser will work on various aspects of the set-up through Saturday's second qualifying and practice sessions.
"We have quite a good feeling from the bike, but I feel we can get it even better than it is," the Aussie said, "We tried a few different things this morning and during the afternoon, so we'll overlay data and see where to go with set-up tomorrow.
"I'm happy with the lap time, but not happy with the bike because I can't use it the way I want to. We made a change to the electronics for the start of today's practice and it's helped in one way, but maybe caused a problem somewhere else. For me, the balance doesn't feel quite right and so it's not as comfortable to ride.
