Corser denies Ducati.

Troy Corser has spoilt Ducati's party at Misano in qualifying for the latest round of the World Superbike Championship, the Yamaha rider scoring a superb second pole position of the season.

Although the final rider to set a time by virtue of his provisional pole position from Qualifying 2, Corser was still under pressure to perform after Ducati came out and dominated over a single lap.

Indeed, up until he had set his time, the Italian bike commanded the top six positions. However, they had to eventually settle for second down to seventh instead after Corser pulled out a marvellous end to the lap to edge Troy Bayliss. Indeed, Corser was behind his countryman for the opening two splits, before somehow finding three tenths in the final sector and surge ahead.

It did look as though Bayliss would be a comfortable bet for pole position after he bettered the marker set by long-time leader Ruben Xaus, the Spaniard defying his place in the running order to produce a time that was too good for seven of the remaining nine riders.

It was almost enough to beat championship leader Bayliss too, but the new BMW signing will still be thrilled with a spot on the front row of the grid after struggling in second qualifying.

The session started slowly enough, with Nurburgring winner Noriyuki Haga the most high-profile of the initial riders, but even he wasn't able to do much as the third rider out, with countryman Yukio Kagayama undercutting him immediately.

It wasn't until Lorenzo Lanzi and Xaus though that Superpole took on a more competitive complex, with Lanzi undercutting Makoto Tamada's provisional pole position by half a second, only for Xaus to slice another five tenths off himself. Even more impressive was the fact that Xaus had one of the slowest first sectors of the session, only for him to more than make up for it with an outstanding end to the lap.

Indeed, many riders followed up with green first sectors, but it wasn't until Bayliss that Xaus' hopes of a fairytale pole position came to an end.

Still, despite Corser's performance, it was clear which bike was proving best suited to the sweeping Misano circuit after Fabrizio completed the front row ahead of Max Biaggi, while Lanzi held on for fifth on the grid. Although unable to make much of his optimum running position, Jakub Smrz completed the dominant Ducati display with seventh.

Meanwhile, Regis Laconi was impressive again on the PSG-1 Kawasaki in eighth position, the Frenchman helping the home team beat the best of the Suzuki and Honda fraternity.

Indeed, it wasn't a great session for Bayliss' championship rivals, with Max Neukirchner down in tenth - a place behind team-mate Fonsi Nieto -, Carlos Checa in 11th and Haga in 14th position.