Troy Corser earned himself the chance to go last in the forthcoming Superpole session around Miller Motorsports Park after storming to the fastest time in second qualifying.
Leapfrogging
Troy Bayliss in the process, Corser's lap with only a couple of minutes remaining may only have been good enough to undercut his countryman's best by a mere tenth, but it now puts him in a prime position to grab his second pole position of the season.
Interestingly, although most riders improved on their times from yesterday's provisional session, Bayliss was unable to lower his erstwhile lap record throughout the hour.
Even so, that lap yesterday was still good enough to place him second fastest overall, just ahead of session star
Regis Laconi, who catapulted his PSG-1 Kawasaki up from 14th in provisional qualifying to third.
Again, the competition was remarkably close, an even greater surprise given that the American circuit is one of the longest on the calendar. In all, just a second covers the first 12 riders. However, despite a large number of improvements down the field, the final positions have not altered greatly.
Carlos Checa had an eventful session after crashing in the early stages but went on to rejoin to go slightly faster, but still drop to fifth overall.
Fonsi Nieto led Suzuki's charge in fifth to make it five different brands in the top five, just ahead of team-mate Max Neukirchner who was the most prolific in improving his lap time over the hour. The German rider had been on the brink of missing the Superpole, but has since transformed himself into a possible front row contender now.
Jakub Smrz and
Michel Fabrizio were among those also failing to improve their laps, but they booked their place in the Superpole with seventh and eighth, along with
Ruben Xaus and Shuhei Aoyama, the Japanese rider set to qualify inside the top twenty – let alone reach Superpole – for the first time this season.
