Toseland takes provisional pole

James Toseland claimed provisional pole position for the second round of the World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island in Australia.

His time of one minute 32.040 seconds around the 4.4 kilometres circuit, was six-tenths of a second ahead of home hero Troy Bayliss.

Fonsi Nieto continued to build on his fifth place in the second race of last weekend's first round by putting his Kawasaki into third place. Bayliss' team-mate, Italian Lorenzo Lanzi, rounded out the front row.

Max Biaggi, who tops the championship standings on 45 points with Toseland, could only manage sixth place on his Suzuki, clocking 1:32.998. That left him just behind former Suzuki rider Troy Corser.

Noriyuki Haga finished the session in eighth place, one place behind Japanese compatriot Yukio Kagayama.

However, the session ended on a bad note for Kagayama as he ended up having to be taken to a Melbourne hospital for further checks following a fall during qualifying.

He broke his left collarbone and suffered a suspected punctured spleen, possibly caused by a suspected broken rib. Ruben Xaus and Max Neukirchner rounded out the top 10.

Dean Ellison finished the session down in 21st place after setting a time of 1:37.249.