Toseland in control

James Toseland saved his best till last by securing pole position in the dying minutes of first qualifying.

Onboard the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda, Toseland’s final two laps were both good enough for pole and the British rider clearly looks very comfortable around the fast Assen circuit with his time of 1:39.750.

Noriyuki Haga continued his impressive run of form to grab second place from a resurgent Ruben Xaus who spent the majority of the session leading the way before slipping to third.

Troy Bayliss spent the one hour session fine tuning the suspension of his Ducati to finish fourth and now looks far more comfortable on the bike after his Donington crash.

Yamaha’s Troy Corser ended the day in fifth place just 0.3 seconds behind Toseland pole time.

Karl Muggeridge made an impressive start having been given an entirely new pit crew for this weekends race and ended up sixth fastest with Kawasaki’s Fonsi Nieto securing seventh at one of his favourite tracks.

Max Biaggi made his typically slow start to the weekend. Riding the new circuit for the first time in his career the Italian ended the day in 12th position.

 

First qualifying practice times:

1. James Toseland GBR Honda 1:39.603
2. Noriyuki Haga JPN 1:39.750
3. Ruben Xaus SPA Ducati 1:39.765
4. Troy Bayliss AUS Ducati 1:39.806
5. Troy Corser AUS Yamaha 1:39.938
6. Karl Muggeridge AUS Honda 1:40.092
7. Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki 1:40.201
8. Jakub Smrx CZE Ducati 1:40.355
9. Lorenzo Lanzi ITADucati 1:40.445
10. Josh Brookes AUS Honda 1:40.480
11. Max Neukirchner GER Suzuki 1:40.537
12. Max Biaggi ITA Suzuki 1:40.804
13. Mario Fabrizio ITA Honda 1:40844
14. Schinichi Nakatomi Yamaha 1:41.032
15. Roberto Rolfo ITA Honda 1:41.109
16. Regis Laconi FRA Kawasaki 1:41.155
17. Yukio Kagayama JPN Suzuki 1:41.273
18. Christian Zaiser MV Augusta 1:43.732
19. Luca Morelli Ducati 1:43.756
20. Dean Ellison Ducati 1:44.869
21. Marek Svoboda Yamaha 1:45.352