Supremo Chili strikes in Assen Superpole.

After several close calls earlier in the season, Pierfrancesco Chili took his first Superpole win of the 2004 season ahead of the Assen World Superbikes round. He took pole with a time of 2mins 03.103secs - the fastest official lap of the weekend so far.

The 40-year-old phenomenon, the holder of the fastest ever SBK lap of Assen set in 2003, was in untouchable form. He won the otherwise closely contested Superpole by over 0.6 seconds, which is an age even at such a long track as Assen.

Currently fifth in the championship fight, two wins for 'Frankie' on Sunday would make the championship battle a five-way affair with two rounds to go.

After some difficult times in recent events, there were smiles all round in the Ducati pit at the post qualifying prowess of the official factory Ducati Fila squad members, James Toseland and Regis Laconi.

Toseland just edged out Laconi for the second best grid position by 0.101 seconds as he strove for his first Superpole win of 2004.

The Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR of Chris Vermeulen set the fourth best time of the Superpole session, earning a front row start, not only after the 22-year-old Australian experienced some front end chatter problems in regulation qualifying.

In front of his Ten Kate team's home crowd, a front row start for the second placed championship contender was a popular result in most areas of the expansive Assen grandstands.

Leon Haslam put a disappointing 14th place qualifying position firmly behind him with an outstanding lap of 2mins 04.266secs, taking fifth place in the Superpole rankings.

He managed to overhaul not only experienced DFX rider Marco Borciani but his own team-mate Noriyuki Haga, who is himself chasing outright championship glory from an overall third place.

The second row was rounded off by the dramatic, all-action style of class rookie Gianluca Nannelli who took his two year old machine to eighth, using all the track and more in his desperation to make another good impression.

With more revs and power from his three-cylinder Foggy Petronas FP-1 at this race, Troy Corser still could not quite reach the pace of his peer group at Assen, finishing Superpole in ninth position.

His team-mate Chris Walker took 14th fastest time, for a fourth row start.

The well sorted 998 Ducatis have been a force all weekend at this most classic of all current SBK tracks, and thus Lucio Pedercini was inside the top ten, demoting previous qualifying sensation Giovanni Bussei to 11th. Garry McCoy, an experienced Assen campaigner, dropped from seventh in regulation qualifying to 12th after Superpole.

Ducati DFX rider Steve Martin had the misfortune to fall on de Strubben corner, as his front tyre lost adhesion around what is the first left-hander for almost half a lap. Failing to record a Superpole time, Martin will thus start from 16th position, one worse than his 15th starting position before Superpole.