McCoy proves a point.

Garry McCoy proved a point today at Valencia, as the former GP winner once again outpaced Kawasaki team-mate Andrew Pitt and put his ZX-RR an impressive 14th on the grid for what will be his final team green race tomorrow.

Following intense cortisone treatment at the Clinca Mobile for an asthma attack, McCoy's health improved dramatically today after he had considered withdrawing yesterday afternoon.

"I've been to the Clinica for cortisone treatment after every session and I felt a whole lot better today. Yesterday was tough, I nearly stopped riding," admitted the Aussie.

McCoy used the morning free practice session to spend time fine tuning the set-up on the revised "softer feel" Ninja ZX-RR chassis made available for the final GP of the season. McCoy has elected to race this machine, after posting his fastest qualifying lap on the bike, which also features modified engine mountings.

"In the morning session we were able to de-bug the set-up on the softer chassis option and it felt more comfortable than the standard ZX-RR, so that's the bike I'll race," explained Garry. "Tomorrow is my last day of work with Kawasaki and I'd like to make it a good race, especially at this track where I've won the GP, been third on the podium and qualified on the front row; I'll be giving it a big go as usual."

Putting aside bruising and minor ligament damage in his right shoulder Pitt made an early surge in final qualifying and held an impressive 12th on the grid for much of the session.

As the pressure mounted late in the session the Australian responded with an even faster lap time and, although slightly disappointed not to make the most of his final qualifying run, he was happy with an effort that knocked 1.7s from his Friday time.

"That's my best qualifying so far in MotoGP for Kawasaki so I'm pleased about that; although I was hoping to go a couple tenths quicker on my last run and stay in front of Gaz," admitted Andrew. "On my final hot lap I came across a bunch of guys through turn one and that upset my rhythm. On race tyres I punched out some good laps mid-session, and if the tyres stay consistent over 30 laps, then we might surprise ourselves in the race; twelfth like last year would be good, although the depth of competition is much tougher this time around. My shoulder is no problem while I'm riding, although it's a bit sore off the bike."

Harald Eckl - Team manager Harald Eckl was a happy man after watching the ZX-RR outpace both Suzuki's, Protons, a Yamaha, a Honda, an Aprilia and a WCM.

"The trend of recent races with the Ninja ZX-RR coming closer to the front of the field has been confirmed, and again we are ahead of many of our more experienced factory rivals," said the German. "Both Andrew and Garry did a good job today and made a big step forward from Friday; now we just need to back this up with both riders finishing in the points, it should be possible."