Corser takes Assen Superpole.

Troy Corser on the Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki overcame his tyre issues to steal pole position in preparation for round nine of the Corona Extra Superbike World championship at Assen.

Corser lapped in a 1min 38.965secs and attributed his new found pace to a change the team made just ahead of Superpole, "It has been a bit of a struggle this weekend getting the gearing and set up for the new section. We made a small change to the bike just before Superpole and it worked, we just need to try it on race tyres tomorrow morning and see how it goes." The team changed a rear linkage to help the qualifying tyre hook up; they have had good pace all weekend on race tyres but were finding qualifiers a struggle.

Noriyuki Haga on the Yamaha Italia was just behind with a time of 1min 39.009secs, he is concerned that his tyres won't go race distance. "Start is important, also twenty two laps is too long at the moment. Suspension feels good but the tyre is not good after ten laps so we see after ten laps," he said.

Corser's team-mate Yukio Kagayama came home in third place and is looking forward to racing his close friend Haga and battling with both the Troys. He is more than happy with the changes to the track saying, "I was only here two times before and everyone else here lots of times. So for me new section is brand new for everyone, which is good situation."

Championship leader Troy Bayliss rounded out the front row of the grid in fourth place, having headed the time sheets all weekend. "I like the new part of the track it suits us," said Bayliss, "This weekend has gone good not much has gone wrong, I've done a long run and I'm happy. We've had no wet practice and things can change real quick at Assen, so we'll go to sleep tonight, wake up tomorrow and see what is outside the window."

He admitted his Superpole lap wasn't his best, ""I'm happy with front row, my Superpole lap wasn't great. A good start is important as it is not easy to over take on the new circuit although the old circuit wasn't great either. You'll see some good racing tomorrow," he concluded.

Alex Barros on the Klaffi Honda heads the second row and has been running at the front all weekend. Lining up next to him is both the Winston Ten Kate Honda riders with Karl Muggeridge in sixth and James Toseland in seventh. Andrew Pitt on the second Yamaha Italia bike bookends that row in eighth place.

Fonsi Nieto on the PSG-1Kawasaki and Lorenzo Lanzi round out the top ten. Steve Martin on the Foggy Petronas was on form for his Superpole lap finishing eleventh.

WSBK superpole results - Assen:

1. Troy Corser
2. Noriyuki Haga
3. Yukio Kagayama
4. Troy Bayliss
5. Alex Barros
6. Karl Muggeridge
7. James Toseland
8. Andrew Pitt
9. Fonsi Nieto
10. Lorenzo Lanzi