Round three of the 2008 World Superbike Championship will start with two Suzukis and two Ducatis on the front row of the grid, after Max Neukirchner took his first ever WSBK pole position at Valencia on Saturday.
The first serious pole challenge came from double world champion
Troy Bayliss - just seventh after second qualifying - who became the first rider this weekend to dip under 1min 34secs
en route to provisional pole for Ducati Xerox.
Next up was
Fonsi Nieto, second to Bayliss in the world championship standings, but the Spaniard was almost one second slower than Bayliss after some rear-wheel slides and will start just 13th on the grid for his home round.
However, Nieto's Alstare Suzuki team-mates,
Yukio Kagayama and Neukirchner, didn't disappoint.
Kagayama - who missed round two due to a broken collarbone - snatched pole from Bayliss by just 0.048secs, despite some typically hair-raising moments, and was still on top with only two riders left to run.
The first of those was Neukirchner, who fought back from a slower first sector to edge 0.123secs clear of his experienced Japanese team-mate.
The young German's 1min 33.805secs - one second inside the previous Superpole record, set by Bayliss back in 2002 - was soon confirmed as pole position after a disappointing lap from last-to-go
Carlos Checa left the home favourite just seventh on the grid.
The front row will thus consist of Neukirchner, Kagayama, Bayliss and
Ruben Xaus - the Spanish Sterilgarda Go Eleven rider, winner of race one at Valencia last season, producing an excellent performance on his satellite 1098 to advance five places higher than his second qualifying position.
Team-mate Max Biaggi had been considering whether to withdraw from this weekend's event after struggling with his injured wrist on his way to 24th on Friday, but the Roman dug deep on day two - qualifying for Superpole in 14th, then gaining a further five places during a tidy Superpole lap to take ninth on the grid.
