Another fall, but Bayliss at his best.

After a soul destroying start to his Honda MotoGP career, Troy Bayliss has been back to his front running best during the three free practice sessions held so far at Laguna Seca - the latest of which saw the Australian lap just 0.079secs from fastest man Nicky Hayden.

However, the Saturday morning hour ended with Bayliss falling for the second time in as many sessions - after again losing the front of his RCV - but Troy was unharmed and is looking forward to this afternoon's qualifying session.

"I feel good, we've made another step forward with the race tyres this morning, and I have managed to improve my time too, going under 1min 24secs," said Bayliss, speaking shortly after FP3.

"At the end of the session, I lost the front and slid out but it was nothing really. However we will probably try and get a better setting for the front forks because even in the early laps I wasn't happy with how they behaved, but everything else is going well, I'm focused and confident and we're working well," he declared.

Meanwhile, the other side of the Honda Pons pit is also looking good with Alex Barros finishing FP3 in a fighting fourth position and within 09.36secs of the top.

"Things are progressing well, today the grip was much better, and we were able to put in some good work on the set-up. We worked on the electronics and the suspension and we have begun to choose which tyres we will use," said the Brazilian.

"We still haven't tested everything we wanted to, but we're going well, and we have some very clear ideas. I also feel a lot more comfortable than yesterday, I've found the necessary 'automatic mode' for this track and am able to ride much more easily and it's not so tiring," he added.

The performance of his two pilots so far this weekend has put team principal Sito Pons in confident mood ahead of qualifying - when he expects both riders to be challenging for a front row start in tomorrow's US GP.

"I'm pleased with how things are going, the whole squad is working well and both Troy and Alex have been amongst the top four throughout, and always at the top level. This means that today we should be fighting for the front row and getting a good position on the starting grid," he said.

"Alex is working well on set-up and has found a fast and consistent rhythm, whilst Troy has made a huge step forward, and as always we are working 100% to get him in to position to show his talent," added the former racer.