Biaggi, Melandri, Gibernau buried in the pack.

Honda riders Max Biaggi, Marco Melandri and Sete Gibernau have all claimed podium finishes and battled for race victory during the 2005 season, but qualifying for Sunday's US GP at Laguna Seca saw the European trio overshadowed by home grown talent and former Superbike riders.

Biaggi suffered the least, heading up row three in seventh, but it was a clear step back for a man that was third fastest on Friday. Afterwards, the Roman blamed a rear suspension change.

"Starting with the seventh best time from the third row is a bit of a disappointment to me and my team," said Max. "After the good job we did yesterday and this morning we were expecting to do much better, and we should have done. The changes we made to the rear suspension this afternoon didn't give us the result we were looking for, and made us even slower. We still have a chance to ride a good race, but the start will be so important."

Meanwhile, countryman Melandri - who injured his right knee and wrist in a fall in the first free practice session (pictured) - has been enjoying the American experience even less. The Italian fell again during qualifying and simply wants to finish the 32-lap race.

"This a difficult weekend for me," said Marco, who qualified 11th. "We didn't start well and I couldn't find a good feeling with the bike. After I slid off, I tried to finish the practice staying calm. It will be a tough race tomorrow. My aim is just to finish the race."

Melandri's Movistar Honda team-mate Sete Gibernau may not have fallen, but he faired even worse during qualifying - finishing the session a lowly 13th.

"We will have a lot of work to do tomorrow during the warm up," he said. "Today we made some changes on the bike but without improving the feeling. It seems we've lost a bit of direction because we haven't improved the lap times at all. Tomorrow will be a 'complicated' race."