By blue2bikes
September 3 2006

At the ninth round of the 2006 World Superbike series it was Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) who was to pull out all the stops and take the number one position during the Superpole session, with a time of 1min 38.965secs. Troy Bayliss had dominated the proceedings so far and, with Troy Corser - the present champion - having suffered from clutch and tyre problems throughout the qualifying session, he came through when it mattered most after making some adjustments prior to going out for the Superpole session.

Alongside Troy on the front row is team-mate Yukio Kagayama in third place, with ‘Nitro’ Nori Haga (Yamaha Italia) splitting the two Alstare Suzukis, and Troy
Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) in fourth.

With rain forecast for the race tomorrow, and with not having any wet practice, the riders will be facing some critical choices when the race gets underway, should the rain fall, with regards to the choice of tyre they use.

The Assen circuit has undergone some changes, with the whole of the Northern Loop having undergone some revising, which has now been changed to slow turns before returning to the old circuit.

This has levelled the playing field for all of the riders, who have had to decide on gearing and tyres from scratch. This will make for some close racing and, with our own James Toseland starting off the front row, James will have his work cut-out to gain the much needed points to keep him in contention.

Top ten Superpole qualifiers:
1 Troy Corser (Suzuki)
2 Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha)
3 Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki)
4 Troy Bayliss (Ducati)
5 Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda)
6 Karl Muggeridge (Ten Kate Honda)
7 James Toseland (Ten Kate Honda)
8 Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Italia)
9 Fonsi Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki)
10 Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox)